Partners In Pain And In Pleasure
by 303313719616comi
Summary: A violent attack, playing doctor, an undercover assignment that calls for a whole new kind of proximity...Jamie and Eddie face it all while wading through an ocean of unspoken feelings. Will their struggles push them to say the things they couldn't say before? I neither own Blue Bloods or any of these characters. Rated T medical/mild sexual scenes.
1. Chapter 1

Rainy autumn days in New York made London seem like Miami. The city streets were darkened with an acrid sheen of rain mingled with the viscous gutter dredge. The view from the patrol car window was obscured by tiny waterfalls, backlit by grey. Eddie and Jamie sat silent in the RMP. To an outsider, it would seem that they were just `affected by the bleak morning. In reality, both were drowning in their own mental whirlpools, unintentionally ignoring one another. It was only 9:30, and the slow passing of time was portent of a dull day. Keeping in character, Eddie broke the silence first.

"Seems like nobody is hard-ass criminal enough to put it out there today. Not that I'm complaining…I personally went to bed too late last night and the weather today is not making it easy to rouse myself…"

She side-eyed Jamie, half hoping he'd snap out of it enough to at least engage in her banter. He gave a taut smile. Truth be told he was not in the mood. The preceding night had left a dull ache in his heart and his mind.

Though he had been the instigator of the jazz-club rendezvous, he was still questioning the sanity of that decision. In the moment, nothing felt more right than their chests and hips pressed unnecessarily close in a sort of unacknowledged desperation, foreheads and wandering fingers coyly meeting in a touch-and-go game. She had been warm, effortlessly sensual, and all at once radiant and devilish. Jamie had tried his hardest to imprint every single second on his memory, laboring against the raucous dance his mind was doing all on its own. Despite all that, the end of the night only afforded him a timid squeeze of Eddie's hand over his own, a disquieted heart, and the uncomfortable pressure of his biological dissatisfaction at such an ending. Watching Eddie float up the stairs of her apartment building, streetlights glittering across the emerald and bronze of her dress, was bittersweet….actually more bitter. He knew he couldn't have it the way he wanted it. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to abscond her. He wanted her gasping and rollicking beneath him so badly he might die. He also knew not having her shotgun beside him every day might just kill him quicker. That in of itself made him question his own virility. He had seen time and time again what men would do to either mentally or physically divest his partner of her dress blues and fall prey to her exasperating temptation. Meanwhile he was trying to decide if that would be worth not riding with her anymore. Any man with normal anatomy and eyes in his head would laugh at his capitulation, he mused. Jamie was deep in the throes of his own mental pity-party this drab morning.

Eddie had not the slightest guess at what he was rolling around in his brain and she was all the better for it. At the failure of her last attempt to coax a smile, she sat back and watched the rain slither over the windows until the radio mercifully killed the silence for them. Dispatch announced a domestic, six blocks out. Eddie groaned outwardly, but she secretly welcomed it as she asked central to show them responding. Jamie did too judging by how quickly he turned on the lights and pushed the speedometer over 75 on the claustrophobic city streets.

They reached the park in two minutes flat. The partners surveyed the scene as they slammed the patrol car doors, squinting against the pelting rain. A man of three times Eddie's size, clearly inebriated, towered over a woman who looked to be 85 pounds soaking wet. She shivered in a drenched flannel and jeans, inadequate for the cold. Neither appeared to be armed. The woman was in hysterics as the man berated her for some unseen crime or another. Jamie and Eddie didn't bother to stand back and listen, sensing that the argument had long since escalated from a reparable disagreement. Jamie watched the man raise his arm above his head and knew their already short window for decision-making had just been cut in half. He chose the superhero route, realizing that stopping the man's arm would be difficult, and drawing a weapon required too much premeditation and potential repercussion with an unarmed suspect. Jamie dove for the woman, wrapping her in his arms and trying to roll away from under the fall of her attacker's heavy arm. He failed to see the flash of a crude shiv in the man's hand. Eddie didn't.

"Jamie! He has a knife!" Eddie's voice pierced Jamie's concentration.

"What…?" He whipped his head around and his heart caught in his throat.

"Eddie! Get the hell away from him!"

Jamie's vocal chords were paralyzed, with fear, exertion, cold….as he watched his partner throw herself between the attacker and his would-be victims as he swung around for a backhand. She was effective in disarming him with the asp in her hand, but only once he had brought his arm across her body at full speed, twisting her violently. The short blade lodged itself under the back of her lowest right rib.

Jamie leapt up, bidden by unfathomable rage and panic. The surly attacker backed up in retreat as he saw Jamie's hand on his gun.

"You! Back up! Back the hell up! Eddie! Eddie can you hear me?"

Jamie had all but dropped the sobbing woman on the sidewalk, racing to his partner. Eddie crumpled to the ground as Jamie caught her under the chest, barely saving her face from the pavement.

"Hey, Eddie! You're alright! It was just a small knife….just a little cut….we can get to the hospital and they'll fix you up and you'll be fine…. " Jamie reasoned with himself more than with Eddie, lightly slapping her cheeks to keep her conscious.

Suddenly realizing his mistake, the perp turned unsteadily on his heel and ran as fast as his drunken legs could take him from the scene of his crime. He was almost immediately apprehended by another pair of officers who had pulled up right as Jamie and Eddie had engaged in the altercation.

But Jamie saw none of that. Eddie was gasping with her head in Jamie's lap, gripping the front of his shirt in blanched fists. Her back arched like she had been stung and her blood mixed with the heavy rain as it fell, thus seeming to bleed much farther and faster than she should be. The shiv dislodged and clattered to the concrete as she writhed, panting through a punctured lung. Jamie felt sick to his stomach, fury and fear roiling deep within him.

"Eddie, Eddie you need to talk to me. Stay with me. We are gonna get you to a hospital and you will be okay," he more or less commanded his partner as he drew her up closer.

She smiled weakly and tried to say something but nothing came out but a shallow wheeze. Jamie panicked. Eddie's eyes went slightly wider when Jamie reached to untuck her shirt from her belt and began undoing the buttons from the bottom up. She was, however, too delirious from the pain and effort to inhale to protest. Jamie opened her shirt enough to find the wound on her side. It sprayed as she breathed, every breath a little lighter.

"No no no…." he whispered to himself, placing his index and middle finger airtight over the wound, despite Eddie's protest to the pain.

"You need to stay with me here, okay, Eddie? I didn't give you up to lose you…." He barely choked the last words out, tears indistinguishable in the downpour, falling from his face to Eddie's. His words sounded crazy even to himself, and in that moment, he knew he would've broken every rule written to keep her with him….to have her in all capacities. The sirens and lights from the ambulance flickered across Eddie's eyes as she reached up a hand to brush his face….only for a moment. They were closed by the time the EMT's had practically wrenched her from Jamie's arms and whisked her away.


	2. Chapter 2

St. Victor's was the onerous second home for which Jamie had never asked.

Too many times, he thought, he had sat in that chair in the hallway of the ICU, desperate for whatever news the doctor could bring. Somehow, this time felt worse, felt abysmal; like toeing the edge of hell itself. He was still soaking, stained crimson from finger to elbow. He had only left the operating room window when coerced by his damned boy-scout sense of decency as the doctors cut away any clothing left on Eddie's torso, making way for the suction valve to clear her collapsed lung of fluid and suture the wound. Her blood had tinted the rain water in her hair and uniform and trickled pale pink down and over her china-doll breasts and the gold circlet that adorned them as she was turned on her side.

She strangely looked lovely. To Jamie, though, she always did. He couldn't stand himself for ogling her, unintentional and fleeting as it had been. It wasn't how he was supposed to see her laid bare for the first time. He blushed, ashamed of himself for even having such a thought at a time like this.

But all that was almost a day ago. Time had passed Jamie by somewhere along the line while he sat, nearly unmoving, forehead head resting on his hands. Renzulli had come by, bringing Jamie's car and well-wishes for Eddie, as had Danny and Baez. He had barely noticed. An attending nurse softly approached and informed him that Eddie was stable but still under the anesthesia and would be for a few more hours. She told him if he wanted a quick break to go home, now would be the time. Jamie elected to stay.

He would stay now, today, and for as long as she would let him.

Jamie suddenly realized would stay forever, if he could.

The faint beep of the monitors and the offensive hospital lighting clawed at Eddie's lucid dream as she rose back to the surface of consciousness. The sight of her arms, tapped into on every side by tubing and needles, spurred her painful awareness of her present circumstances, as well as rudely prompting the recovery of her memory of all that had transpired until this point. Eddie gasped as it all flashed in front of her like a horror film. She shook her head, trying to make the whole thing dissipate again and stave off the migraine that was growing in her temples.

Then she saw Jamie.

His head was resting on the side of her bed, eyes closed in a fitful sleep. He was still in his uniform and was visibly damp, skin blistered in a thousand goosebumps from the chill. She tried to say his name but to no avail. Her voice seemed too far and quiet to wake him. Eddie moved her hand in a valiant moment of exertion to rest it on Jamie's cheek. He started.

"Eddie! Eddie you're awake! Nurse! Eddie do you know where you are and what happened? Are you in pain? I'm gonna get you someone, okay? Nurse! Someone! She's awake!"

Eddie couldn't even answer the barrage of questions, but it didn't matter. The attending nurses quickly descended on her. They propped her up, removed the breathing apparatus from her nose as she choked on it, checked her bandages for any bleeding, and adjusted her morphine levels before scurrying out as fast as they came. It was only a five minute endeavor but it left Eddie exhausted. The blow she had received had splintered a collarbone, separated her shoulder, and broken two ribs in addition to the puncture wound itself. She wasn't wearing a gown but had bandaging winding from one shoulder down and around her. She was sure this is what it would have felt like to wear drag-race binding. Eddie thought the squeezing effect made her look like an old-west doxy. Jamie, on the other hand, found it oddly fetching. He sagely kept that thought to himself as she tugged at it in a vain effort to loosen it across her breasts.

"Hey partner." She finally managed with a tiny smile. "Looks like I one-upped my own black eye."

True, they both still sported shiners from only three nights prior. Jamie laughed stiffly, still shivering a little, his gaze appraising the damage done to his partner. Eddie noticed his perusal and suddenly her face felt a little warm.

"Hey, come here, you look cold…" Eddie patted the bed next to her and scooted over gingerly, feeling every tiny movement like it was a hot iron driven into her side and shoulder. In the state she was in, she figured she would rather have him next to her than staring as intently as he was. Only when she picked up the blanket to let him in did she realize she was naked from the waist down. She hurriedly pressed the blanket down on her side as Jamie joined her underneath it. Her face was flushed and she hoped he hadn't noticed. He had, but would never tell. He focused instead on keeping his manhood in check after such a discovery.

Neither party spoke. Eddie simply rested her head on his shoulder in silent appreciation for Jamie's nearness. He mirrored the gesture atop her head as the pair fell asleep for what would be almost ten hours. The ordeal had taken its toll.

Eventually the supervising floor nurse came and woke them with the good news that Eddie would actually be released that day, which was technically the next already, on the condition that she stay with someone for her care's sake. Jamie heroically volunteered his place before Eddie had a chance to say otherwise and walked off with the nurse to discuss the details of her post-operative recovery and sign a few release papers on her behalf as her emergency contact. Eddie was left in bed as she had been instructed to avoid anything that exacerbated the stitches in her lungs for a week or two.

As re-donning her damp and bloody uniform seemed a poor choice, the nurse helped Eddie into a spare pair of scrubs to leave with. Jamie turned away politely as they struggled to get her into them with the least disturbance to her injuries. The partners were sent off, Eddie in a wheelchair and Jamie like a sentinel behind. He toted a bag complete a small bottle of painkillers and a full array of topical antibiotics and bandages. Eddie was grateful to be free of the gaudy hospital lighting as she was wheeled to Jamie's car. It was a bone-chilling, wet kind of cold outside. Jamie made quick work of helping Eddie settle into her seat and buckle in before solemnly chauffeuring them away from the hospital. he drove even more cautiously than usual, Eddie noted.

Their journey to Eddie's apartment to pick up her things was quiet, but peacefully so. Eddie actually managed to nod off by the time they had reached her place, and Jamie chose not to wake her. Stealthily fishing the keys from her purse, he ascended the stairs to her apartment and fumbled the door open.

A wave of Eddie's warmth and aroma washed over him as he stepped inside and he found himself drinking it in before he checked himself and moved along. Ambling through the bathroom he collected in his empty work duffel an eclectic variety of what he thought she might need; toothbrush, hairbrush, a collection of items from the shower, he paused and blushed as he grabbed a few tampons from under the sink….just in case. He figured she could kill him if she wanted later but it was better to be safe than sorry. Snagging her makeup bag to appease her, he moved into her bedroom.

Jamie surveyed the room with something like reverence. Eddie didn't bask in the frilly trappings of most girls, he noticed, but it was still feminine; indicative of a strong woman like his partner, he thought. Returning his momentarily lost focus to the moment, he rummaged through her dresser and pulled out anything and everything he had seen her wear for the last month, grossly overpacking. Worried that Eddie might wake up disoriented without him in the car, Jamie made short work of the rest of his preparations and returned to his sleeping partner.


	3. Chapter 3

Eddie was still asleep when they pulled up in front of Jamie's apartment. "Hey, Ed, we're here." He jostled her shoulder gently and watched as confusion set in as to why they were at his place, not hers.

"I already grabbed your stuff...I didn't want to wake you up..." He explained, choosing his words carefully. Eddie looked at him through slanted eyes, wary, but void of their normal argumentative flame. Jamie realized in that moment just how feeble she must be. Under normal circumstances, Eddie would have had his head for rummaging through her belongings, pure intentions notwithstanding. Jamie shouldered her bag and came around to help her up. She leaned heavily on him the whole way to the door and past it until he cautiously lowered her to the couch.

"I'll take the spare room," he offered, knowing the bed was much softer in his room, Eddie didn't say anything but looked like she was trying to covertly wipe a tear from her eye.

"Hey! Hey Eddie, what's going on, are you hurting? Jamie crouched down in front of his partner but didn't lay a hand on her out of fear of startling her.

"Yeah, I mean no. I mean… sorry…" she sniffed. "I guess it's the meds or I'm just tired and I feel filthy and cold, and I can't even wash or brush my own hair with all this," she waved a hand in front of the bandaging on her torso, "and it's all starting to get to me. I feel like a burden….I feel pathetic." She moved her eyes upward to keep the welling tears from falling in a failed attempt at preserving her facade of bravado.

Jamie's heart broke a little.

"Well, we can manage a hot shower and clean clothes, to be sure." A crazy idea came to him and before he could think better of it, he vocalized it.

"Hey, tell you what, I'll put swim shorts on, and you can wear a sports bra and…whatever….and I can help you wash your hair and stuff. I mean I need to shower as well.."

Eddie was about to protest with some smart-ass reply but stopped short when she looked up at Jamie, sincerity and worry etched on his face. He was still in his uniform from patrol before the incident. Her shame and stubbornness were suddenly conquered by grateful humility. Now was not the time to tease or scold…not after all he had done. She conceded meekly. Jamie disappeared to change into his showering attire.

Eddie went into the spare bedroom and managed to find underwear that could have passed as bikini bottoms in a pinch. She chuckled dryly at the sampling of lingerie mixed in with her more utilitarian undergarments, amused that Jamie had thought she wore any of those lacy underthings on a regular basis. She was struggling to get the shirt off her head with such limited scapular mobility when Jamie knocked.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Eddie laughed unconvincingly, "Just stuck in this scrub shirt."

A silent pause…

"Do you want help?"

Another pause…

"I guess…yeah…..thanks…"

Jamie cautiously opened the door, eyes trained downwards. Eddie was standing with her side to him, arm half caught in the shirtsleeve, the other side pulled over her shoulder. Her bandages preserved what dignity she had left. Jamie stepped behind her and Eddie blushed at the radiating heat from his bare skin and his gentleness in helping her undress.

"I'm so sorry…" She almost whispered.

Jamie turned her slowly so he could look in her eyes.

"Stop apologizing. I mean it. To me, this is all a silver lining simply because it means I still have my partner with me…." He trailed off and Eddie didn't respond, feeling unworthy of plumbing the depths of his pain and all his losses. Anyways, it was very possible he didn't think of her as anything different from Vinnie or Renzulli, she supposed. She was wrong but it was better that way.

Jamie turned Eddie around again as he continued to unwind her bandages. He was trying his best not to touch her anywhere improper as he freed her chest from its binding, but the occasional slip of his fingertips sent a volcanic electricity tingling through both their bodies. They both suffered it silently, each thinking they were far too stimulated by the almost clinical process and too embarrassed to ever admit it. Finally Eddie stood, back turned to her partner, unclothed from the waist up.

She was unexpectedly shy, Jamie thought, considering her normal flirtatious demeanor. He bent his head to inspect the wound on her side and Eddie felt incredibly exposed as she shrank under his scrutiny, naked but for her satin underwear. His hot breath was too close for comfort. She hurriedly grabbed her bra and handed it backwards to him, cradling her chest against her bad arm in an attempt at modesty. Jamie took the hint and helped get it over her head and shoulders. He ran into trouble as he realized the maneuvering that would be necessary to tuck her in fully but decided to pony up and make it as quick and efficient as he could, touching aside. Eddie gasped a little as his hands came over the front and briefly cupped her on both sides as he finished the job.

"Sorry." Jamie choked, turning his incardine face away as he walked to the bathroom.

They were both quiet as they stepped into the shower, Jamie supporting Eddie by the elbow and his hand on her hip.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the latent tension between the two, the shower felt wonderful. The partners stood a hair's breadth from one another, simply soaking in the euphoria of the hot, purging water as it coursed over their skin. After a few minutes of scrubbing the past few days off themselves respectively, Jamie laced his fingers into her hair and gently pulled his hand back towards himself. The movement caused Eddie to back up an inch or two. Her shoulders settled against his chest. He washed her blonde locks like he was afraid of tearing it from her head, though in all actuality his nerves were born of her nearness in of itself.

"You have a knack for this, maybe you should have been a caretaker, eh…" Eddie joked softly, desperately trying to salvage some levity in the moment. Even in her state and even considering the circumstances, she knew the line they had cooperatively drawn between them was never very well-established.

Jamie rumpled her hair a little as they turned the water off and he grabbed them each a towel.

"Seeing as how I'm using my special nursing skills as a cop at the moment, I guess a career switch would be unnecessary." He beamed at her as he responded in typical, serious Jamie fashion to her attempt at humor.

The tortured young man found her slightly messy, vulnerable, wet-headed aesthetic to be irresistibly adorable, but knew better than to dwell on that thought.

"Maybe let me know when you're half dressed and we can put new bandages on, yeah?" He offered in a business-like tone.

Eddie nodded, "Yeah, cool, sounds good." She tried to sound casual and unaffected but knew it came out forced.

Back in Jamie's bedroom, she opted for a pair of white linen pants as they were loose and easy to pull on one-handed. She was apprehensive about what came next, but realized that most all propriety in this situation was lost anyways.

"Okay, I'm ready for you." She called out towards the door.

Jamie appeared, clad in sweats and a hoodie, bandages and antibiotics in hand. He positioned himself behind Eddie and tried to strategize.

"Do you think you can lift your arms a tiny bit, or does that hurt too much? I can try to wind the bandages the way they did before but…..I'm probably not as good at it as the nurses….and I don't want to….you know….make you uncomfortable…." He suddenly found himself hard up for a better way to say what he wanted to.

"Yeah I think I can do that." Eddie saved him.

Jamie tenderly rubbed the antibiotic over Eddie's stitches and placed a gauze pad and tape over the area. Then, holding the end of the bandage at her shoulder blade, Jamie brought the roll up and over where her collarbone had turned black and blue and down over her chest, trying to tighten it enough to limit her mobility so as to keep anything broken good and still. Eddie assisted in holding the bandage when he needed to change directions. Jamie's surprising adeptness and professionalism allowed them make quick work of the binding.

She was disarmed by his face hovering over her shoulder at a necessarily close angle to finish the job. He tried to keep his eyes up whenever he didn't need a visual on his handiwork. Eddie noticed him attempting to remain a gentleman and smiled despite herself.

"There." Jamie said proudly as he grasped her waist, turned her, and surveyed his job well-done. In his mind, she looked like the heroine of a dystopian Fifth Element remake; tough, regal, and lovely. In her own mind, Eddie looked like Frankenstein's monster and honestly she felt ashamed of her appearance.

Jamie noticed her fidgeting slightly under his scrutiny and he gallantly produced a zip up that would be easier to maneuver over her injuries. They smiled awkwardly at one another, both grateful that the other wasn't drawing verbal attention to the situation, and made their way to the sofa.

"Feel like you could eat?" Jamie asked, thinking he knew the answer.

"Not so much, I guess."

Jamie looked surprised.

"Those pain meds are a bitch on my stomach." Eddie explained good-naturedly.

"Never thought I'd see the day…."

"Hey! It's rude to discuss a lady's appetite!" Eddie smacked him weakly with her good arm.

Jamie threw up his hands in a playful gesture of innocence. Both enjoyed the humor and how it allowed Eddie to momentarily feel herself again.

The lightness between them was short-lived. After calling in a take-out order, Jamie returned to the couch, sitting a healthy yard away from Eddie. His jaw was set as he sought her gaze, which she eventually, begrudgingly gave to him.

"So…you want to tell me why you decided to play hero three days ago?"

Had it been three days now? Eddie distracted herself counting the hours since the attack instead of answering the question right away. Eventually she quipped back at him.

"You did it first. My part was just reactionary."

She had him on that. Sort of.

"You saw the knife, you still jumped. That was foolish." He accused. He sounded angry but really was just vexed and ashamed of his inability to protect her in that fateful moment.

"Because you didn't." If and when she wished, Eddie had the lethal capacity to sound increasingly pragmatic and cold as she argued. It was an effectively painful combination for Jamie's already-frayed emotions.

"Well, maybe this is a perfect example of why Renzulli wanted to separate us. Maybe he was right…" He let the vague double entendre hang heavy in the air though his words hurt him as much as they hurt their intended target.

"Are you saying I did this because I have feelings for you?" Eddie tried to sound incredulous. She wasn't sure if he was insinuating that she had acted rashly out of passion, therefore making Jamie lose faith in her judgement, or if he was admitting some contrived sense of negligence on his part to protect her, making him an unworthy partner. Both ideas plagued her, though she knew only one was true. She would never tell him that, though.

"I jumped because I knew I had a better chance at disarming him than you, since you were holding the woman. Your identity and our…..relationship….partnership….affected none of that." She was clearly on the defensive.

"Yeah okay. Well, brave as it may have been, it was stupid." Lack of sleep and all the nerves were pushing Jamie over the edge of civility.

Both parties sat back and sulked for a moment.

"Sorry." Eddie huffed, not sounding particularly repentant, but clearly chastised. Jamie felt badly for barreling down so hard on her when she was just out of the hospital. He softened noticeably. "It's fine. I just….you know….didn't want to lose another partner."

Eddie shakily placed her good hand on his shoulder, unsure of what to say. Jamie acknowledged her gesture with his hand over hers. They left it at that.

Half an hour later found them still sitting on their respective sides of the sofa, watching the final stages of the the nightly news in silence, Jamie deftly handling chopsticks as he uncharacteristically inhaled stir-fried rice from a takeout box. Eddie was nodding off. Jamie noticed and took a break from his dinner to help her to bed. The pain meds apparently did their job because the shallow breathing of sleep overtook her still form just moments after he helped her lay down. She had been quiet, almost wordless, all evening. Jamie couldn't help but worry about her but knew she would be upset if he fussed. Fighting the urge to kiss her flushed and furrowed forehead, he silently wished her sweet dreams from afar and closed the door.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning found Eddie awake at the dark hour 6 am to a viciously cramping stomach.

After clumsily orientating herself to her strange surroundings, she rose from the bed and made her way to the bathroom as the opiate-based pain meds waged a nauseating war. She had nothing to expel from her body, but her stomach tried its best. Her violent retching disrupted Jamie's shallow sleep. He entered the bathroom to find Eddie shivering and doubled over on the bathroom floor. Instant concern flooded his brain. He gathered her up gently and tried to help her to the couch.

"I'm okay, I can do it." Eddie wantonly tried to push him off, sleepiness and dehydration clouding her sensibility. Jamie held fast until she was settled. He was concerned at the glazed-over and vacant look in her eyes.

"You look horrible. Maybe I'll call Renzulli and cash in one of those unused sick days…" He offered. Eddie looked annoyed.

"Don't. We don't need that kind of attention on us."

"Yeah, well _you_ _personally_ need attention and I don't think anyone else is going to come running to give it right now." As soon as the words left his mouth, Jamie kicked himself. He hadn't meant to emphasize her lonely existence in this world what with her family out of the picture and her current single status, but done so he had.

Eddie was hurt at the last statement but had no retort ready at hand. She turned away from him, clearly avoiding eye contact.

"Go do your goddamned job, Jamie. They all need you more than I do." Jamie was unsure if she was trying to be funny, but he took her at face value.

"Fine. I'll go, but we need to get food and water into you before I go."

"I can't." Eddie moaned, moving a hand protectively over her abdomen.

Jamie looked at her, feeling helpless. He busied himself getting ready for the next ten minutes before setting saltines and water on the end table within her reach.

"Hey Jamie…" He spun at the timid voice.

"Before you go can you….help me brush my hair? I feel a little subhuman and somehow look even worse…"

Jamie, moved by her vulnerability, acquiesced without further coaxing and retrieved the hairbrush he had used on her the night before. He was gentle, but quick, trying not to dwell on the action or linger too long as he untangled her hair and clumsily pinned it at her neck. Eddie laughed lightheartedly at his untrained attempt at styling, feeling it with her good hand, but praised and thanked him for it nonetheless.

As he closed the door, Jamie cast one last glance at his broken partner, falling back asleep on the couch. He prayed the day would go quickly. It was daunting to venture into it without her at his side. Jamie realized he couldn't imagine surviving his job without her there; safely under his watch and within his reach. Preserving their partnership rose once again to prominence in his mind.

The precinct felt cold and chaotic without Eddie's blonde head bobbing hurriedly in front of him as he navigated the hallways.

"Reagan!" Jamie whirled at the sound of his name from Renzulli's office.

"Morning, Sarge." He offered, sounding too cheerful even to his own ears.

"How is she?" Renzulli looked genuinely concerned.

"Passed out on the couch. Still no food and barely any fluids in her, but still stubborn as they come. She's a fighter."

"Yeah, well, we will miss her while she's out. Are you sure you're okay to be here?"

Jamie nodded.

"I'd be driving her nuts trying to help anyways."

"Okay, well, why don't you just stay for a half shift today, ease you back in, ya know."

Jamie nodded again. Renzulli gave him a knowing clap on the shoulder as Jamie walked to his desk for the morning. He was infinitely grateful that his superior officer had chosen not to berate him on this particular day about the fact that his female and decidedly attractive partner was passed out in the close quarters of his apartment. He wasn't sure what he would have said, so he let that thought slide.

His coworkers, however, didn't.

Jamie raised an eyebrow as fellow beat-cops Jason Emmet and Ollie Gomez sidled up to his desk. He wasn't sure if their expressions were concerned or amused, but he didn't care for them regardless.

"How's Janko?" Jason began. "Does she say she misses me or are you keeping her good and busy?"

"That's out of line, Emmet." Jamie warned the officer with his icy tone.

"Lighten up, man, it's a joke." Ollie intervened. "We really are just wondering how she is. She's a fiery gal, that one. You're lucky to have her."

"She's fine." Jamie wasn't going to give them much.

"Fine?" Ollie and Jason exchanged a look. "Bet you're pretty relieved about that because she pretty much saved your ass."

Jamie suddenly realized what they were after. He knew the precinct was probably buzzing with the discussion of the PC's son who let his partner take a knife for him. It killed him. He wasn't going to let them have the satisfaction of knowing that, though. He silently turned his gaze back to his paperwork.

"Well, tell Eddie that Ollie says hi." Gomez sounded less accusatory now.

"Got it." Jamie kept his eyes on the desk, looking busy.

"And tell her that Jason says we can postpone today, but maybe we can make good on that raincheck soon, if she's up for it."

Now they had Jamie's attention. The tightening grip on his pen turned his knuckles white as the heckling duo walked away. Surely Eddie wouldn't have agreed to go out with Jason. He was attractive, sure….maybe. Well, not within a mile of her league, though, Jamie thought. He was kind of an oaf whereas she was a straight-up fireball. Anyone could see that. Whatever. Eddie was free to do as she pleased. Emmet and Gomez walked away, unnoticed.

A hand on his desk startled Jamie from his troubled reverie. "Go home, kid. No offense, but you're a little useless today." Jamie looked up to see Danny and Renzulli standing over him, concern in their eyes. He opened his mouth to protest but closed it, wisely. Jamie stood as his brother opened his arms in an understanding but masculinely distant embrace. "She's alright, Jamie. Eddie is all sass and fight. What's a flesh wound gonna do, yeah?" Jamie laughed sadly, trying to seem unaffected. He exchanged a brief glance with Renzulli before nodding at both men and made his way to the locker room to begin his departure for the day.

Danny and Renzulli watched him walk off, silently understanding between them that someday Jamie was going to have to come to grips with his feelings, but pushing him now would have violated the Geneva Convention itself.


	6. Chapter 6

Jamie was half expecting to find Eddie still asleep on the couch when he cracked open his apartment door.

What he wasn't expecting was for her to be gone.

After turning over all the bedsheets, checking the shower, even checking a closet before it occurred to him how insane that made him seem, he discovered a note on the counter. He realized, sheepishly, that he had walked right past it despite its strategic location. It simply read _"In case you came home to fuss about me, I wanted to let you know I'd gone for a walk, be back by noon. -E."_

Jamie shot a glance at the clock. It was 12:42. Her tardiness in returning was doing nothing for the simmering uneasiness in his stomach. Without wasting another second, Jamie strode back out of the door.

Eddie was sitting on a park bench less than two blocks from Jamie's apartment. After a few days of early-winter gloom compounded by the indoor recovery stages following her incident, the halcyon day felt glorious. Eddie turned her face skyward, eyes closed, and focused on breathing the cold air into her aching lung, slowly but surely. It hurt like hell, but it felt liberating.

A sturdy hand on her shoulder broke her meditation. She looked up and was met with Jamie's frown.

"Eddie, do you know what time it is?"

"Do you? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Renzulli was worried about you and said I should be home with you instead." Jamie fibbed.

Eddie figured he was lying but let it rest.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

Jamie sat down next to her with a heavy sigh.

"I thought something happened to you….."

Eddie stole a glance at her partner's hands, folded and fidgeting between his knees as he leaned forward. She knew he cared. She wanted him to but she knew she couldn't indulge herself in that. That was far too steep and treacherous a road for her….for them. Instead she forced a cheerful smile. "Nah, I'm just trying to feel normal quickly and set you free again."

Jamie didn't laugh. "C'mon Eddie, let's go home. It's risky for your bad lung to be out here like this. It's too cold. If you cough you could tear the stitches."

Eddie obediently let herself be moved by Jamie's protective hand first between her shoulder blades, then drifting to her lower back as she rose from the bench. She gripped the crook of his elbow to steady herself. Jamie took the opportunity to transfer her grip to his outside arm as he moved in closer and brought his other arm around her small frame in a guiding embrace.

"This probably looks a cop come to the rescue of some poor, hapless, lost EDP." She laughed. Jamie's fleeting smile disappeared as Eddie's laughter turned into a wracking cough. The chill in the air had irritated the sensitive tissue where the small tear had been cauterized in her lung. When her wheezing didn't subside for a moment too long for his liking, Jamie scooped Eddie up, unbidden, into a fireman's carry. He felt her stiffen and her face felt hot so close to his, but he powered through until they arrived back at his door.

He ceremoniously placed her on her feet as if he thought she would shatter at too abrupt a motion. Eddie didn't complain. The stitches below her ribs felt as though they were tearing at her skin. Her eyes welled before she could stop herself. Jamie had gone to change out of his uniform but walked back into to the room just in time to see Eddie apprehensively lifting her shirt and peeling the bandage back enough to see that the wound was bleeding again.

"Hey! Eddie! Are you alright? Let me see." Jamie stepped in and bent down examine the damage to her stitches and dressing.

"I think all the sutures are intact but you're gonna need a new bandage." He offered his opinion. Eddie nodded. He was right, and Eddie wasn't herself enough to argue him without any basis like she normally would. It was almost a love language for her, the pointless heckling. Jamie, unused to her meek surrender, almost missed it.

"Well, let's go get it done then, yeah Janko?" Jamie suggested, more enthusiastically than he felt.

They proceeded to Jamie's bedroom. Their movements seemed rehearsed this time, and thankfully less awkward as a result. Jamie helped Eddie remove her shirt and had her lay face down on the bed. It was going to be a little more involved process this time to clean and dress the problem area and he didn't know if he could handle it standing in the daylight with Eddie so unaware of what her state of undress did to him. He used scissors this time to free her of her bindings, having her arch her back for a second to pull them from underneath her chest. Eddie shivered when she felt Jamie's breathing on her back as he very carefully dabbed at the slow bleed from the now partially reopened incision. He blew on it in a sad attempt to coagulate it, leaving one hand absently on the swell of her exposed lower back as it rose into the curve of her buttocks, the other fingers lightly tracing over the bruised ribs at her side. He wasn't even really aware of his own ministrations, not to mention the melting effect it would have on Eddie. A small moan escaped her before she stifled it, panicking.

She didn't dare look at Jamie. He sat very still, one eyebrow raised in amusement at her telling vocal slip. He leaned in, letting his breath tumble softly over the wispy hairs at the nape of her neck. She glanced up at him, unable to turn her head to fully meet his gaze.

"Everything alright, Officer?" He teased

"Shut up. It tickled, okay?"

Jamie wasn't done. This was too entertaining.

"Oh yeah? Well does this?"

He lazily ran his fingertips across the front of her shoulder, under her arm, and down along the side of her breast as it dipped into her side. He poked her playfully at the top of her hip, knowing she couldn't retaliate in her vulnerable position.

Eddie bit her lip.

"I swear to God if you make me laugh and burst my stitches I will murder you."

Jamie's hand moved a little slower at her threat, flattening against her back and following her spine. He wrapped it around the side of her neck and teased it underneath her shoulder, over her downturned collarbone. His breathing grew low and husky. Eddie grinned slyly.

"Jamie."

Her voice rattled Jamie from his daydream.

"Wanna finish up here? Or are you just gonna leave me half-naked and bleeding on your bed?"

Jamie turned a hundred shades of red and resumed the topical repairs to his partner's wounds.

He worked in silence, now, still shaken at being caught indulging his wandering fingers. Eddie lay with an angelic, self-satisfied smirk on her lips. Jamie tapped her to sit up for the re-bandaging of her torso. Eddie grimaced.

"I don't want to. It's uncomfortable."

"How else are you going to keep from moving it?"

"Because it hurts like hell."

She had a point.

"Okay….but if you just have the one bandage over the stitches, won't that hurt with a bra on?"

Eddie was impressed by his candidness.

"I'll just skip that. I'm not going anywhere. I'm still young, after all. Gotta enjoy my freedom before they sag." Eddie sounded halfway like her flirtatious, envelope-pushing self again.

Jamie swallowed hard. She was killing him.

"Yeah okay, uh, I'll grab a shirt for you."

Eddie sat up, back to Jamie, and allowed him to pull one of his old Harvard V-necks over her head. He had grabbed one of his own shirts because he suspected that any of the flimsy, pastel options that he had thrown into her bag were not going to hide much of anything and would have him dead of exsanguination through the nose by the end of the evening. Eddie picked up on his intent and smiled to herself.

The sexual tension in the air evaporated when Eddie's stomach growled audibly.

"Is that the return of the real Eddie Janko that I hear?" Jamie turned to her.

"Im not sure," She laughed, "I'm afraid it'll come back up."

Jamie silently observed the hollowness of her cheeks as well as the way her collarbone protruded a little more than normal.

"You haven't been eating at all, Eddie. You're gonna waste away."

She laughed. "I'm in no danger of that, Reagan."

Truth be told, her nerves in their intimate living situation at the moment were as much to blame for her lack of appetite as the Darvoset prescription.

She started to walk away but Jamie grasped her wrist. She saw pleading in his eyes.

"Okay, fine," She ceded. Let's go get something. You're gonna have to redo my hair though. Her eyes sparkled, teasing him subtly about his previous efforts.

"Deal. But uh….you're gonna need to put a bra on after all"

Eddie gave Jamie a sarcastic look before walking into the bedroom, her partner in tow . She tossed a powder blue strapless number at him, the only strapless one in the bag. There would be nothing digging into her cracked collarbone that way.

Jamie sheepishly held it as Eddie arranged herself into it with a small shimmy before standing up straight. The clasp was the easy part for him, she hypothesized correctly.

"Why are you so good at that, Jamie?" She was merciless.

"Maybe I'm better at putting clothes back on girls than taking them off…" Jamie's sense of humor was suddenly self-deprecating but funny to Eddie, nonetheless. She punched him lightly in the arm.

"Well lets finish that job, then."

Forsaking modesty for speed's sake as she was starting to feel hungrier by the moment, she let Jamie help her pull a pale yellow sweater over her head, facing forward. She was unnerved by how much his gaze came to rest on her eyes but said nothing. She clumsily put on minimal makeup with her left hand since her dominant one was still immobile. Jamie helped her brush her hair down and pinned a few tendrils away from her face. She halfway looked herself again and it felt good.


	7. Chapter 7

The pair decided to walk to the Lebanese place a few minutes from the apartment.

It felt good to stretch her legs again though breathing was still a laborious effort for Eddie. Jamie didn't miss that detail and purposely meandered more casually than usual, casting a glance at her now and then to assess her physical well-being.

The sun did beautiful things to her already golden presence: the ivory complexion, the flaxen hair, the soft yellow sweater, rising and falling over the swell of her breasts as she suspired. She was light itself.

Jamie looked down, abandoning his meditative admiration. She wasn't his. She couldn't be. She probably wouldn't even want to be if she could. Despite the simmering sense of intimacy and familiarity these past few days, Jamie had been painfully aware of their status. He didn't know if it could even be called a status. They were professionals after all.

Holding the door of the cafe for his partner in gentleman's fashion, he pushed all that mental turmoil to the side, determined to enjoy the time they did have together.

After a few minutes of mindless banter over felafel and hummus, Jamie voiced what had plagued him since the morning.

"So...uh...Jason says hi…."

Eddie regarded him silently, obviously trying to mask surprise.

"He said that maybe you could push back your Wednesday plans seeing as how that's today and you're not up for it, most likely…."

Eddie still said nothing but once again busied herself trying to figure out where time had gone.

"I didn't know you guys were…a thing…." The words hurt him to say out loud but he knew not having an answer would hurt more.

"I mean not really…" Eddie tried to sound casual but somehow felt caught. "He asked me out a couple times, finally wore me down I guess and I figured, you know, I'm not getting younger or hotter or anything…" She forced a laugh.

"So you like him?" Jamie resisted the urge to combat her ridiculous claims about herself.

"I dunno….I barely know him. Seemed unfair to pass judgment yet."

"You were just gonna go hang out and drink with some dude who you don't know much about?"

"He's a cop, Jamie. We work with him."

"That doesn't mean much…sadly. Were you gonna tell anyone where you were going and who you were going with?"

"Dude, what's with the interrogation?" Eddie squirmed under his disapproving stare.

"Just looking out." Jamie backed off a little.

"Well, maybe I'll go tomorrow. Does that sound okay? Does that count as letting someone know?"

Jamie rolled his eyes at her sarcasm.

"You know I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Eddie tucked into her food trying to look stoic.

"Because you're only two days out of the hospital."

"So? We're not going to run a marathon or anything…."

"That's not the only type of strenuous exercise."

Eddie caught his drift and gaped at his insinuation, aghast.

"Jamie Reagan that is _too_ far." She hissed.

Jamie shrugged. "Like I said, just looking out."

The silence was awkward for the next few minutes.

"I think I should go home tomorrow."

"That so? Are you sure that's smart? I mean this is the first thing you've eaten in like three days and then some and that seems like a sign that you're not as well as you think you are. Not to mention all the other stuff you still need help with."

"And I'm thankful for all your help, but I think I can manage on my own…or at least I need to try."

"I'd feel better if you didn't."

"So you're saying you want to help me get ready for a date with another guy?" He was too easy to bait.

Jamie sized up her expression to see how serious she actually was. He decided she meant it.

"You're a grown woman. Do what you want." He sulked.

Eddie was a little disappointed at Jamie's lack of commitment to dissuade her from leaving, but she knew she brought it on herself.

"Seriously though, Jamie, thanks for everything. I don't really know how to repay you for all your help."

"Don't leave yet." He said without flinching.

Eddie sighed and paused for a minute before answering.

"One extra night, then. I'll just have Jason get me a cab."

"Deal." Jamie still hated it, but it was better at least.

On the walk back, Jamie peered over Eddie's shoulder as she texted Officer Emmet, making their plans. Di'marino's at 7 the following day. Awfully nice place for a first date, Jamie noted.

Eddie was tired like she had worked a full day by the time they arrived home. The sun seemed lower than usual for 5 pm and it was messing with her already discombobulated internal clock. Jamie caught her yawning as he emerged from his bedroom in a t-shirt and sweatpants, ready to put his feet up for the evening.

"You feeling okay?" He was back to his sweet, overprotective self, judging by the tone of his voice.

"Yup. You cool if I shower?" Eddie tossed over her shoulder, heading for the bathroom.

"By yourself?"

"Yeah, like a normal human being." She retorted.

"I'd feel better if I could check those stitches quick, seeing as how you were bleeding earlier today."

Eddie considered this for a moment before agreeing with her eyes and an invitational nod to join her in his room. Jamie figured he would take that invitation just as it came. Rising from the couch, he smiled and rolled his eyes to the ceiling, scolding himself. All they were doing in there was basic field medicine, but he knew most men would kill to have Eddie Janko beckon them to the bedroom, regardless of the activity.

Eddie was feeling shy. Their brief discussion about her dating life earlier had reestablished a few emotional boundaries between them in her mind. Instead of letting Jamie help her out of everything, she just had him unhook her bra and get the shirt off one side of her. She draped it over her front in an effort to shield herself as she sat on the edge of the bed. Jamie peeled the bandage away from her skin. His brow knit a little when he saw dark purple and angry red hues lurking around the incision site. He brushed it with a fingertip and found it hot to the touch. Eddie's breath caught at the contact. It stung like hell.

"Eddie that doesn't look good."

"Yeah, well….I've had worse."

"You have?"

Eddie smirked at him, "you've obviously never had your cherry popped…."

That shut him up, at least for a second. She was a sadistic mind-terrorist, through and through.

"Uh, well….you need some help getting into the shower?" Jamie croaked.

Eddie laughed to herself at his awkwardness.

"Nah, boyscout, I got it."

"I think when you get out you should let it breathe."

"Thanks, ma." She winked at him as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Jamie heaved a sigh of both relief and agony as fell back on the bed. She made him so goddamn crazy. It was a good thing for her sake that she was injured or she would not have been safe from him in this proximity, he speculated, mentally replaying all her flirtatious gestures as she had begun to feel more and more like herself again.

Eddie felt like she was in heaven as she stood under the hot water and let it wash away everything on her body and in her mind for a moment. She was fairly unsuccessful at washing one side of her hair since it hurt too much to hunch and twist in that way, but she was proud of her effort. It was certainly more relaxing without Jamie's heat and scent just millimeters behind her. She clumsily wrapped a towel around herself and hurried back into Jamie's bedroom, shivering. Eddie was still shaking a little from the cold as she grabbed clothes from Jamie's duffel and dropped her towel to begin the arduous process of wrestling them on. She stopped dead in her tracks, stark naked and holding a t-shirt in her hands, when she saw Jamie still lying on the bed. Her heart slowed a little when she realized he was turned from her and his eyes were closed in a light sleep. She fumbled through dressing herself up to the waist and placed the towel back over her front before opting to wake her partner to help with the rest. She poked Jamie gently in the side. He turned his head slowly and took a moment to focus on Eddie's face.

"Sorry." She said softly. "You don't have to move from here, I was just wondering if you could re-do those dressings."

Jamie nodded dumbly but rallied as he sat up and patted the bed next to him.

After patching her up sufficiently, he helped her back into the oversized t-shirt from earlier that day.

"Thanks, partner." She patted him on the arm in friendly fashion. "You can go back to bed."

Jamie leaned forward and caught her by the fingers as she turned to leave the room.

"Don't go. I told you this was your room while you're here. I'll move."

"Don't do that. The couch or the other bedroom is just fine with me." Eddie tugged away a little.

Grogginess lent Jamie a previously untapped boldness, a contrast to his normal demeanor. He tightened his grip on Eddie's hand.

"Stay, Janko. I won't bite." He almost sounded playful. Eddie was confused by this man who had apparently kidnapped, sequestered, and was now poorly impersonating her partner. She indulged him and sat down on the bed. He released her hand but nestled his head in her lap like it was totally normal.

Eddie placed her hand on his forehead.

Jamie frowned up at her. "Something wrong?"

"Just checking for a fever. You aren't acting normal." She teased.

He smiled up at her. He was almost charming, but Eddie was on guard.

"Alright alright. let's go drink a beer on the couch and watch T.V.. I need to unwind."

Jamie groaned in faux distress as she let his head fall and wandered into the living room. He really didn't know what he was doing. It felt like his sanity was slipping as he realized Eddie would be leaving again and life would go on as normal. He didn't want normal. Normal meant civil interaction punctuated by the occasional flirting after a drink or two and followed again by nose-to-the-grindstone days on patrol. He loved their camaraderie. He hated the unfulfilled sexual tension. It exhausted him. It was hard to go back to such an arm's-length manner of coexistence after having had Eddie's warm and sensual femininity essentially running through his fingers for days on end now. It was as she had prophesied and he hadn't even 'tapped that.' He was spoiled for life. After finishing his wallowing session, Jamie went to find the muse of his misery. She was sitting, feet tucked beneath her on the couch, a Saturday Night Live rerun on the television. He sank in next to her.

"Sorry about that in there. I was sleepy and disoriented. I didn't mean to make it weird."

"No harm done. We're all good." Eddie swigged a Shiner she had found in his fridge and rattled it slightly in front of him.

"Hadn't pegged you for a Texas beer guy, Reagan."

"Hey, give that here…." Jamie reached for it but she held it away as best she could with a bum arm and shoulder.

"You really shouldn't drink that with the painkillers and all."

"I didn't take any today."

He raised an eyebrow. She was probably hurting more than she let on, in that case. "There might still be some in your system and it'll put you on your ass."

She didn't answer but raised a stubborn eyebrow and lifted the bottleneck back to her lips. Jamie knew that look. He knew it was no use arguing. It didn't matter much, though, since his mind was now enraptured by the way her mouth met the glass of the bottle. He was suddenly thirsty and went to retrieve his own libations.

"If you can't beat em, join em." He shrugged as she shot him a victorious look.

The pair sat in silence for a while. Eddie, trying not to let on just how drunk she felt off of one beer, attempted to play it off casually when she rested her head on Jamie's shoulder. Jamie welcomed her in, lifting his arm to allow her to nestle closer to him. He looked down at her as she began to doze off. She had been cold, he realized with a catch in his breath as he noticed the tautness in her decidedly feminine assets underneath his borrowed t-shirt. He crossed his legs in a futile countermeasure to his anatomical response. Maybe this was torture, but maybe he was a masochist.

 _One more day._ He groaned mentally. _One more day of this and they would go back to just on-the-clock partners. There would be absolutely nothing more of this._ He didn't know how he was going to live with that, but live with it he would have to.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning was clinical and routine. Jamie set Eddie up with clean bandages, strict instructions to stay on the couch, and food and water, which he already knew she wouldn't touch. He wasn't sure why she wasn't really eating, but she wasn't really eating, and it worried him. Jamie helped Eddie brush her hair one last time, more for comedic relief's sake than anything, and headed out the door.

As luck would have it, Ollie and Jason were the first officers to pass by his desk that morning.

"Reagan." They nodded in unison.

"Officers." He barely looked up.

Jason lingered awkwardly.

"Hey, Reagan, you're not gonna be mad at me for taking your partner out tonight right? I mean, I'm not trying to mark your turf if you know what I mean…."

Jamie was quiet. Jason was not a bad guy, he realized. An idiot, but harmless. Under different circumstances, he might have even liked him.

"Officer Janko is free to do as she pleases. As you know, we are just partners."

"Yeah yeah, sure. Got it. Thanks. Wish me luck, right?" Jason sounded a little nervous. Before making his exit he paused and turned one more time to Jamie.

"Uh, do you know if she likes…you know…flowers, or anything?"

Jamie didn't really want to answer that.

"Your guess is as good as mine." He tried to sound encouraging.

"Well, thanks anyway, man." Jason drummed on his desk before wandering after his partner.

Jamie shook his head.

An hour later he welcomed Renzulli's summons away from the drudgery of paperwork for which he had no patience.

"How's Janko?"

"Getting better. Pretty independent now."

"Good, good. Any guess at when she'll be good to come back?"

"She'd be back yesterday if it was up to her, but to full active duty? Probably two weeks."

"Perfect. We can work with that. I have a project for you two. Can you handle it or have you decided to cry uncle on whatever's between you two?"  
"It's not like that Sarge. I promise. We're both still dating other people anyways." Jamie fibbed a little. Maybe a lot.

Renzulli looked like he was trying to gauge the percentage of truth in that statement but perhaps didn't really want the full disclosure on the matter. Reagan and Janko were the best from every angle. He really didn't want to lose such a phenomenal team. He was just hoping to the high heavens that he wasn't making the wrong call by turning a blind eye to their not-so-subtle unacknowledged feelings for one another.

"Well, as you know, you've both been flirting with undercover here and there and have just the right profile and enough experience to handle what came across my desk this week."

He handed Jamie a fat manila folder for perusal.

"You'd be staying at a safehouse in Manhattan for two weeks. It's an investigation into what I'd call 'belly-renting.' It's sort of a new phenomenon to us. Basically, any couple with means and trouble having their own kid can meet with any name on a short list of these doctors. Those doctors then have some way of finding girls, maybe trafficked ones, in this city to artificially inseminate on behalf of the couple, in turn playing surrogate. There's a lot of money in it, not a lot of regulations, and we are trying to pinpoint the central nervous system of this thing. They just need a couple of young, hopeful, infertile-looking cops to pose as a clients and get to the final rounds of this thing."

Jamie tilted his head.

"My sperm count is insulted that you think I could ever look infertile, but I know this is a great opportunity for us. May I discuss it with Eddie?"

"Obviously."

"Thanks boss."

"And Reagan?"

Jamie turned in the doorway.

"You're welcome."

Jamie rolled his eyes, but not without a smile.

The rest of his workday passed relatively quickly. Jamie had somehow managed to lose track of time filing arrest reports, summons, and the lot. His mind was somewhere far off, already deep undercover with Eddie. She would be thrilled, he knew. She lived and breathed for this type of assignment and quite frankly she was good at it.

The end-of-day locker routine was lonely without Eddie, but it was comforting to know that she would be there when he got home.

Wait, no she wouldn't. Jamie groaned and stared at the ceiling, shirt half unbuttoned, belt in his hand. She was out with Emmet. He imagined her laughing, sparkling, giving Jason that look she gave. No. He couldn't go there. He slammed his locker and headed home with a storm cloud in tow.

"This was really nice, Jason, thank you." Eddie beamed in the candle light from across a red-checked table for two.

Jason fidgeted under the table.

"Of course. Thanks for coming out. I know it probably wasn't too easy for you what with all…this…" He made a broad gesture towards her torso.

"No I was getting stir crazy. This was a welcome break." Eddie figured he never needed to know how difficult it had been to zip up the navy blue off-shoulder dress or fix her hair and makeup. She had gone all the way to her apartment to get ready, realizing that Jamie had not planned to pack for a date when he had grabbed half her wardrobe. She smiled in spite of herself, remembering the random assortment of clothing. It was sort of cute. But now was not the time to think about her partner. She was on a date with another man. But hey, what was new? He was always on her mind. Always so damn annoying, prancing around up there, pushing every other guy out like he owned the place…..

"Eddie?" Jason's voice brought her back to earth.

"What? I'm sorry, I'm a little tired I guess…." She laughed charitably.

"Would you like me to walk you home?"

"Oh I'm only two stops out on the subway so I'll be fine." She lied.

Jason reached for her hand to help her up. She obliged the gesture and he led her out of the restaurant.

Eddie stood a few feet away as Jason bid her goodnight with a squeeze of the hand and a chaste kiss on the cheek. Eddie stalled until he was around the corner before beginning her long return to Jamie's apartment, trying not to breathe the freezing air too deeply.

She had barely gone twenty feet when a figure emerged from the doorway of the neighboring building. Eddie started. Jamie's face came into the light and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Goddamit, Jamie. I could've stabbed you. What are you doing here? "

"Is that how you treat the knight in shining armor who came to escort you home?"

Eddie shot him a mockingly reproachful look. He offered his arm. She took it.

"You know walking home alone was a rookie move, yeah?"

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm a grown woman, Jamie."

He eyed her up and down.

"Yeah I can see that." Realizing his tone came across more suggestively than he wanted it to, he switched modes.

"And….so can any scumbag out here. Gotta be careful not to put a target on your back, Ed."

"Wow, thanks, Jamie." Eddie's voice practically dripped. His attempt at masking a compliment, however, didn't go unnoticed, and she felt a strange stirring in her abdomen.

The rest of the way back Jamie filled Eddie in on the details of their future assignment. As he had predicted, she was ecstatic. It was good to see her eyes light up like that again.

"But that can't distract you from getting better, yeah?" He admonished her.

"Nothing can distract me from getting better when you're breathing down my neck reminding me all the time…" She joked.

"Which is why you should stay with me a little longer, Eddie." Jamie was suddenly serious.

"I feel like I'm wearing out my welcome…"

"Nonsense."

Eddie stood slightly behind Jamie as he unlocked his apartment door. After she glided past him, he hung back and watched her enter, taking a mental picture of her unapologetic femininity despite her tough-as-nails attitude. The gap of light between her waist and her elbows, shaping the curve of her hips and rising into her shoulder blades was mesmerizing. Her bare shoulders caught the light in a way that shadowed the bones and muscles beneath. Jamie found himself admiring just how well she could wrap soft and strong into one visual package.

She caught him staring.

They both blushed.

"Wanna get me out of this thing?" Eddie joked, only half kidding.

"I was more wanting to know how you got into it….and where it came from."

"Well, not without a struggle, and not without a trip to my place."

"Why didn't you ask me to grab it for you?"

"Have you dress me up like a Barbie doll to send off on a date in the pink jeep with some other Ken doll? Not likely."

Jamie had almost forgotten the circumstances that caused her to wear the dress being discussed in the first place.

"How was the date, by the way? Emmet was pretty excited for it, I think…" He was following her into the bedroom to help her unzip herself.

Eddie didn't answer right away.

"It was fine."

Jamie sensed that was all he was getting but pressed the issue anyways.

"And will there be a second?"

"Why would it matter to you?" Eddie tended to lash out when she felt on the defensive.

"Sorry…geez."

"Sorry…" Her voice softened again and hitched a little when Jamie fiddled with the zipper at the curve of her spine.

He tried his damnedest not to gawk as he exposed his partner's back. Somehow this felt more intimate than manhandling her into a sweatshirt. He was concerned by the array of purples, greens, and blues that had risen to the surface of her skin and were now splashed across her back and shoulder, covering her entire right side. That madman had been an ape. Jamie cringed as he remembered how she looked like a rag doll catching the brunt of his arm on her shoulder and side, taking the shiv, and crumbling to the ground as the sent her crashing downward at an alarming speed.

"Jesus, Eddie. That cannot feel good."

"It's nothing." She quipped, letting the dress fall away from her body to the waist.

"May I?" Jamie stood up with his hands on his hips.

Before Eddie knew what he was asking, Jamie stood over her back, taking a closer look at the damage. He handed her a shirt to hold over her chest as he moved to her front and guided her a little closer to the light so as to get a better visual on her collarbone. The slight rise in her right shoulder was noticeable when compared to the left.

"It separated when the collarbone cracked." She explained. "The ligaments didn't tear completely, but the doc said they were hanging by a thread. I have a sling that I'm supposed to wear….but I don't want to…"

This was news to Jamie.

"Damnit, woman, you're gonna wear it. I need you back at work."

Knowing she had been caught in the wrong, she sheepishly complied. Jamie helped her tape everything up, as he had grown adept at doing. They arranged the straps of the sling so that it wouldn't press on any fractures or contusions. Jamie grabbed a zip-up hoodie and pulled it over her shoulders as she faced him. She slid the one arm through the sleeve as he zipped it up and suddenly she felt very much like a child. It was a safe, warm feeling. They laughed as they both realized she was still wearing her dress, half undone, from the waist down. Jamie gallantly helped her pull on sweats underneath it before yanking it off, as it would have been too much of a task for her given how tight it was on her hips. But hey, he certainly didn't complain.


	9. Chapter 9

Perhaps it was the humor in the moment, the way she had actually let him coddle her a bit, or the way she was looking up at him with a certain hopeful glow….whatever it was, it was making Jamie's head spin.

Eddie didn't budge when Jamie stopped moving for a second, his face just inches from hers, his eyes dancing between her sultry lashes and her slightly parted lips. Her expression issued a silent challenge. He accepted.

Jamie's hand found its way to the back of her hip and pulled her forward, ever so gently. The way the bandages wrapped and lifted her breasts, visible within the only half-closed sweatshirt, was doing things to him. His eyes drank in the incandescent lamplight on the skin between the apex of her collarbone on her good shoulder and the curve at the base of her neck. It was dappled with the occasional freckle and looked like velvet. It was too damn tempting. He brought his other hand up and moved the sweatshirt off her good shoulder, making way for him to brush his lips softly from where her jaw met her ear all the way to the top of her arm.

Eddie let out a faint whimper. Jamie pulled his head back, expecting to see her face contorted in pain, but instead saw rapture. He pressed her closer to him, hand flattened halfway on her back and halfway on her buttocks, slowly drifting downward as she moved into him without protest. He rested his face on the crook of her shoulder and stayed that way for a blessed minute.

Eddie was floating somewhere between ecstasy and euphoria when Jamie grew still. His fingers were like fire on her skin. She drank in the sensation, knowing they needed to stop, praying to God he wouldn't.

"I'm sorry, Eddie….I don't know what….what I…." Jamie breathed into her skin.

"...know what you were doing?"

Jamie was surprised to hear disappointment in Eddie's voice as she finished his sentence. His head snapped up, eyes searching hers for her inference.

"I know we can't…" Her voice was laden with regret but erotic nonetheless, Jamie thought.

"Yeah." It came out out huskier than he intended.

"But…." Eddie continued, "Maybe it's been building up and maybe it would be healthy to just…"

"Get it out of our systems?" Jamie interrupted.

They both knew far too well that it would be hard to just get this out of their systems.

"I don't think it will help this time." He dropped his arms at his side.

Eddie didn't say anything. Her eyes fell to her feet. She looked so defenseless and weary standing before him and suddenly the need to hold and protect her overwhelmed Jamie. He reached for her, careful of where she was still tender.

Eddie yielded to him, letting her partner pull her against his chest, weave his fingers into the hair at the back of her head and use them to angle her face to him.

"Forgive me, but maybe I don't care right now." Jamie breathed as he touched his lips to hers. Her mouth opened just a little in anticipation as his tongue grazed her teeth, inviting him in deeper. They kissed slowly, almost cautiously. It was as if there was nothing in the world for them to do other than taste and touch each other in such a way that they could remember each tiny detail. No mindless passion. No madly roving hands. It was thoughtful and sweet, albeit hungry.

Jamie broke away first, suddenly alarmed at what he had done. Eddie's face was flushed, lips swollen, as he glanced down at her. Her eyes fluttered to his chest where she placed a tentative hand.

"Did it help a little?" She asked quietly, sensing that he was as dissatisfied as she.

"Not sure. Time will tell." He paused. "But…I have to stop there because if I don't have you riding in the car with me in a week, I don't want to ride in the car, okay?"

Eddie couldn't argue with that.

She hit him playfully.

"Got it, partner."

They rescued the distance between them with a quick step away and headed to the couch to finish out the evening with a beer and ESPN. Any other couple in the world would never have been able to handle the severity of such highs and lows. But they were Jamie and Eddie. They were good at the rollercoaster.


	10. Chapter 10

Eddie had hit the tipping point in her recovery and ended their little homestay arrangement two days later. She was grateful for Jamie's care but was equally realistic about the circumstances. Return to patrol came a week later.

"Welcome back to paradise." Jamie teased as Eddie settled into the seat beside him.

"Thanks partner." She smiled and wrapped both hands around her coffee, enjoying the momentary peace before Jamie started the car.

"So when are we going in for the UC training?" Eddie asked.

"Thursday, if we are still up for it. Renzulli said there's safehouse in Manhattan where we will be staying so I think the plan was to spend the morning down at the 5-4 for briefing and then we have to go up to the safe house itself."  
"So Danny's precinct?"

"Yeah. He's actually on the case."

Eddie was glad for that. Danny had been on her first UC assignment and she strangely enjoyed working with him.

The day's patrol only involved taking down a kid running off with a lady's purse, a drunken disorderly, and a jaywalking EDP. It was just enough to make Eddie feel like she was back in the swing of things.

The partners had split to their respective locker rooms to clean up from the day. Jamie made quick work of it and headed to Renzulli's office to pick up the training schedule for their assignment.

"Come in." Eddie reacted flatly to the knock on the women's locker room door. She expected to see Jamie sauntering in with suggestions of beer and darts. Instead she was greeted by Jason Emmet.

"Oh, hey." She started, suddenly feeling awkward that another man besides Jamie was intruding.

"Sorry to pop in like this…" He was visibly nervous…or miffed? Eddie couldn't tell

"No worries. What's going on?"

"I was just checking to see if you wanted to grab a drink tonight."

"Gotcha. Um, could I take a raincheck? I'm still a little tired."

He looked unconvinced and perhaps a little rankled.

"If you don't want to, just say so."

Eddie was a little taken aback by his shift in demeanor.

"I wasn't saying that, I was just.."

"No. It's cool. They all said you were getting your fix with Reagan but I didn't wanna believe that."

"Hey, now that's out of line."

"Look, just do us all the favor of being honest the next time some guy wants to be a gentleman and take you out for drinks instead of just keeping you like a booty call in the closet like ol' Reagan…"

By now Jason had brazenly backed Eddie up to the lockers. He didn't touch her, but he had his hands on both sides of her head against the metal. His face was far too close for Eddie's liking and she recoiled a little but tried not to let it show.

"What's going on in here?"

Jason spun at the sound of Jamie's voice, icy and accusatory.

"Nothing, man, nothing." He mumbled, shuffling away. "Like I said, not trying to be somewhere I'm not welcome…or tap something that ain't mine."

If looks could kill Jamie's gaze would have sadistically eviscerated the man as he left the room. He turned to Eddie.

"You alright?"

"Yup."

Clearly she wasn't.

"Wanna grab a drink?" Jamie asked. He could tell she was't going to discuss the issue any more and subsequently dropped it.

"Sure." She took his offered arm for a moment before releasing it at the door.

"Why am I so bad at this, Jamie?"

"Bad at what?"

"Men."

He huffed, eyes cast to the ceiling.

"I wouldn't say that."

"Then why am I still single?"

"Because you choose to be."

Eddie was going to protest but realized he was right. She chose bad prospects, then chose not to be with them.

"Maybe I'm just bad at picking em."

"Now _that_ I might agree with."

She laughed, feeling better already just shooting the breeze like this.

The pub was busy for a Thursday night, most likely due it's proximity to nearby university residential housing. Jamie and Eddie reveled in their anonymity in this crowd. Jamie procured a stout and a cognac, neat. He knew when Eddie was sad or lovesick, it was a liquor night.

"Thanks." She smiled as he handed her the glass and settled onto the stool across from her at a high two-top.

"So, it's a no-go with Jason, huh?"

Eddie looked defeated.

"I don't know what happened. He was so nice the other night. Today he was just…you know…oozing jealousy and vitriol and all of that…." She stumbled over her words.

"Jealous? Of who?'

"Of you. You don't make a very good wingman, eh." She teased him.

Jamie skipped over that comment, afraid of where that conversation would have taken them.

"Well, please be careful, Eddie. He seemed pretty mad."

"He wouldn't actually do anything."

"You don't seem to know how crazy you can make a man…" Jamie meant that with as much implication as it sounded.

"Oh…you're asking for it now, Reagan…"

Eddie laughed and reached out to jab him in the arm but started to lose her balance on her chair, complements of the drink in her hand.

"Woah there…"

Jamie caught her under the elbow. He didn't remove his hand, but scooted his chair around the table so as to maintain his stabilizing grip on his partner.

"Eddie," Jamie suddenly turned serious, "you must know you're a catch. I mean really. You're funny….smart….attractive….." He became more awkward the longer he went on.

"Tell me something I don't know." She mocked.

Jamie knew she wouldn't hear him out so he dropped it.

"You too drunk to make it home?"

"Hardly." She teetered a little.

"Maybe I'll walk with you…."

"Suit yourself."

They waltzed out the door and onto the street, deflated by the cold as it hit them. Jamie tossed a friendly arm over Eddie's shoulders and pulled her in closer.

Reaching her front stoop, they stopped and Eddie fumbled with her keys for a moment. Never once had they stood here since their original goodbye kiss that they didn't think of that night.

"See you tomorrow?" Eddie looked up at Jamie with a dusky look in her eye.

"Sure thing, partner." The scintillating streetlamp halo on his partner's hair enkindled desire and bravery in Jamie. He reached for her as she turned away to leave him, catching her hand. Eddie spun at the tug of his arm back to face him, the palm of her hand landing on his chest.

He pressed his mouth to hers, firmly but carefully. She breathed out, startled as he pulled away.

"Just you know…keeping it professional. Night, Eddie." He declared as he walked away.

Eddie watched as he disappeared past the glow of the streetlights. Somewhere along the line they had silently and physiologically agreed that the rules were relevant but bendable. Eddie wasn't quite sure when that decision had been made, but it was becoming obvious to her that it had. This undercover thing was going to be interesting.


	11. Chapter 11

Thursday rolled around with a windy autumn vengeance.

"You two need coffee?" Baez offered as Jamie and Eddie pulled chairs up to the table in one of the 5-4 briefing rooms.

"Please." Eddie answered for both of them. Baez walked out.

"Read up, kiddos. There'll be a test later on and this is your study guide."

Danny dropped two files on the table in front of Jamie and Eddie. They opened them hungrily.

Each folder held new drivers' licenses, about ten pages of backstory, medical histories, maps, photo profiles of related suspects, and a few articles on the process of surrogacy.

Jamie held up the fake I.D. card. "Jamie Vitalani. Sounds mom-worthy." Eddie's card read "Elise 'Ellie' Vitalani" since Eddie's name seemed like a stretch in undercover.

"Okay, so what are the basics?" Jamie asked as Eddie perused the literature in front of her.

"Take it away, partner…" Danny motioned to Baez as she reappeared with coffee.

"Basically," Baez began, "We are going to have you two set up an appointment with one of these surrogacy specialists. Your story is that you're a four-year married couple that can't seem to have a kid on your own. We will provide documents showing the 'results' of your fertility tests. These doctors will then collect eggs and sperm from you, at which point we will bring the eggs, and create an IVF embryo. The part we are trying to break down is where they are finding the girls that are fostering the embryo's and carrying them to term. As you know, surrogacy is a delicate thing and these underground operations are highly illegal and even more dangerous; the risks being both medical complications and safety. We think they've partnered with a sector of an Eastern European mob to run their security. Unfortunately they've also tapped into said mob's cyber-terrorist prowess. It has been a hard shell to crack, and we haven't been very successful. All that's to say, we haven't fully assessed what the security or office structure of these clinics are, but we have a few of the doctors' names. This is why we need people on the ground, so to speak."

"Why not just take the docs out?" Jamie interrupted.

"It's deeper than that." Danny explained. "It's a lucrative business. One doc out, one doc in. There's probably a buy-in to some sort of partnership since we have yet to see any evidence of an obvious leader. We also want to know where they are getting the surrogate mothers from and where all the clinic locations are. All I need is for you two to act the part of the distressed couple who can't figure out how all your boot-knocking won't make a baby. Shouldn't be too hard."

Jamie's ears were as red as Eddie's eyes were wide. Baez and Danny shared a knowing smirk.

"When would this start?" Eddie finally asked.

"Saturday afternoon sound okay with you? Can you be ready by then?" Baez checked.

Jamie and Eddie exchanged assuring glances before nodding in unison.

"Alright, well, here is the map to safe house. Go up there, figure out what you need for three weeks, then go home and study." Danny smacked the table emphatically.

Eddie and Jamie meandered out to the Eddie's Porsche, directions in hand.

The drive to the safe house was uneventful and long, leaving the air clear for Eddie, being Eddie, to open up a deeply political discussion.

"I kinda feel bad for these parents. It's almost too harsh to bring their last hope crashing down around them."

"If it's not actually safe for them or for the surrogates, then it needs to go. They've loosely linked more than a few missing-persons cases to these people in one way or another. We are here to figure out how the pieces fit together…"

"I know." Eddie interrupted. "I'm just saying if I were in that position…I mean…as a woman I think there's pressure there to be able to have your own kid and all, fulfill society's mandate of your feminine physiology and all that bullshit….I mean it's just hard enough to feel like a failure as a woman as it is, but then to have this…" Eddie was suddenly too worked up to continue.

Jamie didn't say anything for a moment, sensing a deeper wound in Eddie's heart than what she was indicating in her message.

"Eddie did something like this happen to you..or…someone you know?"

Eddie's sigh was shaky. There wasn't really harm in telling him, she figured.

"At risk of oversharing, I'll put it this way; I haven't always been the upstanding, virtuous citizen I am now…" she paused as Jamie raised an eyebrow at her, teasingly. "I mean," she stuttered, "I used to look for love and acceptance in the very wrong places. I had a guy. I don't know if boyfriend is the right word. Well, we got drunk one night, or a few, that led to some irresponsible, unprotected actions, if you know what I mean. I never ever wanted to have his kid, that's for damn sure. But…" her voice hitched again, "when I had a miscarriage with a baby that I didn't even know I was pregnant with one month in, it killed me a little. It's hard to come back from something like that and have any hope for the future as far as finding a husband and having a family. So yeah, I sorta get where these women are coming from."

Jamie didn't really know what to say. He put a hand on her knee and squeezed.

"Maybe that's why fate wants you here to do this."

She appreciated his ability to point her to the silver lining. She smiled a little.

"And Eddie, I sincerely hope you haven't given up on that hope." Though the idea of Eddie being pregnant with another man's child was like a punch to the gut, that feeling was overwhelmed by Jamie's compassion for his partner, who had yet another burden that she had carried for so long about which he had no idea. He wished she could've opened up about these things sooner, but he knew the sensitivity of the topic ran deep.

They lightened the mood by quizzing each other on various parts of their cover story for the rest of the ride. After maneuvering the narrow streets to find a parking space, the pair went up the stairs of the white marble apartment building to see what they would be in for during the next month.

Eddie was delighted at the two bedroom flat, decorated simply, but tastefully.

"Damn," she breathed, "we should go undercover more often."

"Oh yeah? You missed living with me that much? Jamie playfully posted himself behind Eddie and placed his hands on her hips, looking down at her over her shoulder. She ducked him and spun around, casting a 'come and get me' glance over her shoulder before walking through the rest of the apartment. Jamie smiled with a sigh and followed her.

After finishing up their tour, the two went down the street for dinner at a nearby diner. Eddie ordered twice the amount of food Jamie did along with coffee for good measure. Jamie couldn't help but notice, though, that she barely picked at it.

"Something wrong, Eddie?"

"No." She stared at her plate. "I'm just tired I guess."

Jamie looked at her, worry in his eyes, Eddie noted with annoyance.

"I'm fine, I promise." She placed her hand on her heart.

"You've had a hell of a last three weeks. You're allowed to be a little down and out, but I'm just saying, your uniform sags a little on you these days, your eyes look sunken, you smile less...are you sure you're feeling okay? There's nothing I don't know about?"

Eddie wasn't sure if she was more touched or offended by Jamie noticing all the little things that he had mentioned.

"I'm not sleeping well."

Jamie had figured as much.

"I keep reliving it, you know, thinking you were about to die, jumping in, seeing the fear in your eyes, feeling it all go dark…."

She trailed off, but Jamie understood.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not your problem."

"It sort of is…"

"Jamie, I wouldn't put you in danger if that's what you mean."

"No, it's not. I just mean I care about you as a partner. As a person."

"Oh…thanks."

"So….would it help to come back to my place to sleep tonight? You seemed to sleep okay when you were there."

Eddie rolled this around for a minute.

"I have night terrors sometimes. Do you really want me to be waking you up screaming?"

"I've seen worse, Eddie. Honest."

Eddie weighed all of this before wordlessly shrugging in consent.

"Then okay. Come home with me tonight. You got your overnight bag?"

"Always."

Clearing the air made them both feel better and they finished the night on a lighter note.

As Jamie had suggested she would, Eddie slept a little more soundly with someone else in the apartment. He was grateful to see her so peaceful as he checked in on her around midnight, knowing that the next few weeks might be emotionally and physically taxing. He prayed she'd make it through.


	12. Chapter 12

Friday was an off-day for the partners as Danny had advised Renzulli that they would need a study day before their last briefing early Saturday morning.

"What's my blood type?" Jamie hollered from the kitchen to the bathroom, where Eddie had decided to study from a bubble bath, citing it as her last opportunity to relax for a while. Jamie was trying not to think about what she was doing and was instead quizzing her while he made lunch.

"O-Negative."

"Correct. Where was I born?"

"Royal Oak in Detroit, Michigan. Dad was an auto-tycoon. Managed to keep some of that family purse around somehow during the city-wide bankruptcy scandal, he has cancer, and is consequently funding this surrogacy so that he can meet a grandkid before he dies."

"Well done, Ellie." He called over the sound of the water as she stood up from the tub.

"Yeah and can we talk about how you got to keep your name and I didn't? I feel like that's a sure tell of what everyone thinks of the fact I share my name with 6 million fat, sweaty couch loungers…I mean…it's not my fault. They'd do it to if their name was Edit…" Her exclamation turned to good natured rumbling as she wandered into the kitchen, still in a towel.

"Oh is this the level we're on now?" Jamie joked, gesturing at her attire.

"Oh stop, it's nothing you haven't seen. Don't tell me Sydney and Dana and the rest of your harem was clothed 24/7. Besides, I'm your partner. Just imagine me like I'm Renzulli or something." Jamie looked disgusted and Eddie laughed at his obvious despair at the thought. He rallied quickly.

"No. You're my wife now." He wagged his finger at her. Eddie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, okay then."

"How's that feel?"

"Like I should be having you rub my feet and buy me expensive hand bags. Maybe I'll find out I was born to be a trophy wife."

Jamie tried to imagine Eddie standing by and being the pretty picture of gracious submission. Pretty? Absolutely. Submissive? He laughed aloud at the thought.

Eddie was still standing at the counter in her towel, popping the cap on a beer. Jamie knew he couldn't handle her for long looking like that.

"Go, woman! Clothe yourself!" To drive his point home, he raised a leg and tapped her on the backside with the flat of his foot. She spun, a horrified look on her face.

"What? You're just my partner. I'd do it to Renzulli too." He shrugged innocently, making her eat her own words.

"Oh, you are so bad, Reagan." Eddie yelled back at him as she went to go get dressed.

"Yeah and you're horrible at being a trophy wife." He retorted.

Eddie reemerged from the bedroom wearing one of Jamie's NYPD t-shirts and her own running shorts. She had a cute college girl vibe going on, and Jamie found himself wondering at just how many frat parties had Eddie stolen the show in her university days.

Jamie shook his head. He needed to focus. They needed to be sharp here. There were a lot of unknowns in this undercover. How dangerous were the people involved? Had they kidnapped these surrogates? Had anyone been harmed on the procedural tables? He implored God that they wouldn't discover the risks firsthand at Eddie's expense. She had been through enough.

The rest of the night was spent reviewing the details of their covers over and over and over again. They strategized their distress signals, risk assessments, and hypothesized every permutation of curveballs they could imagine. It was easy for them. Danny and Renzulli had done well to select two officers who complemented each other so well, not to mention their almost hilariously efficient level of non-verbal communication.

Midnight found Jamie beginning to doze off still upright on the couch while Eddie quizzed him, lying on her back with her head propped on his thigh. Her blond hair fanned like rivulets over his lap. His fingers had discreetly laced themselves into the silky strands and wound them gently in and out of his grasp.

Eddie felt his hands go still and looked up at him. He had fallen asleep, leaving her last verbal quiz question hanging. She sat up carefully, teasing her hair from his fingers. She placed a blanket over him, draping it over his shoulders. Smiling at the peaceful expression on his face, Eddie drifted off to the bedroom to get her own beauty sleep, knowing they would both need every bit of rest and recovery they could manage before their first day under.

"6 am is too goddamn early for a briefing. Who the hell can retain anything at that time?" Danny cursed under his breath as both the officers and the detectives made their way up to the safehouse.

"Their appointment is at 10 am. It's gonna take a little time to get them oriented for that." Baez reminded him gently.

Eddie's stomach turned a little at the mention of the triage appointment. She knew it was coming. She dreaded it regardless.

Jamie was hyper-vigilant to the subtle changes in Eddie's expression as the four of them sat around the coffee table. He could see the brave front she was struggling to maintain. Danny and Baez didn't miss the look of concern flash across Jamie's face as he watched his partner. Normally this display of emotion would worry them, but given the specs of the assignment, for once it would be an asset.

Baez placed one of the doctor's photos on the table. "As you now know, this is doctor Marco Anziovino. He is from Buenos Aires, Argentina and was well-known throughout both South and Central America for his research in the field of fertility and surrogacy. It is unclear what his level of orchestration in this operation is, but we are sure of his involvement in the screening and harvesting process, incriminating in of itself considering he has no appropriate license for such procedures in this country. We've done the legwork of going through the various conduits to contact these people and arrange an appointment. So far everything has been in writing, save for one phone conversation. Danny completed the call so that the voice timber would register as similar to yours, Jamie. Your consultation in a few hours will be with him. Any questions so far?"

"Do you know what level of the triage will involve the physical evaluations?"

Jamie vocalized what he knew Eddie was fearing the most in the process.

"We aren't sure exactly how it is split up, but we do have eggs on standby for Eddie's sake, since the procedure is painful and potentially risky. The doctor will most likely expect you to perform the hormone treatments, which, given your physical, should be safe for you, Eddie. You will have to keep us in the loop on your status in the process in your daily reports. We will deliver the eggs just beforehand. Are you still okay with all of this?"

Eddie bobbed her head. "I was aware of and am still fine with the risks. I can definitely handle it."

"And for my part?" Jamie interjected, knowing sperm samples were part of the equation.

"Yeah we figured you could handle that on your own. That ain't some heroic sacrifice on your part." Danny coughed.

The look on Jamie's face was priceless. Eddie tried to stifle a laugh but couldn't.

"Oh my god, shut the hell up, Janko. What are you, a 12 year old boy?" Jamie threatened under his breath as Danny and Baez looked on, amused.

The giggle fit subsided and Eddie once again zeroed in the final touches on their preparation.

9 o'clock rolled in quickly and Danny and Baez stood to leave. Baez squeezed Eddie's arm encouragingly as she emphasized their faith in the pair as well as a final order to take care of themselves. Danny clapped Jamie on the back and shot him an 'I know every little thing you're thinking right now, so watch yourself' look before telling him to be careful. He pulled the door closed behind them. Everything was quiet. The silence felt heavy.

"Well, ready to go get interrogated on a very personal and uncomfortable level?" Jamie joked, ineffectively.

"Yup. Ready to get felt up by a criminal." Eddie dealt it back.

"Really, Eddie? Not funny, man…" Jamie laughed weakly as he ushered them out the door.


	13. Chapter 13

Eddie felt like she was being led to a black book poker room rather than a medical office as she and Jamie wove through the tables of an expensive Brazilian steakhouse in north Manhattan. As instructed, they had asked the host to see the menu du jour before answering his question about the size of their party, prompting him to lead them to the back, menus in hand for good measure. He called down a small elevator at the back of the dish station and told them to wait to get off until the third floor.

They complied without comment.

The third floor of the building wasn't well lit, but they could faintly make out that it was a hallway with four doors. They could also make out two shadowed figures at the end of it. They didn't say a word, so Jamie and Eddie surmised that they intended for them to proceed. Only one door had light coming from under it; a faint blue glow.

Jamie looked down at Eddie as they stood in front of it.

"Ready, Ellie?" He slipped his hand around hers, stepping into character. She nodded mutely, squeezing his fingers.

Jamie knocked. Soft footsteps slowly approached. A man they both recognized almost instantly to be Dr. Anziovino opened the door with an unexpectedly warm smile.

"Good day to you both. You must be the Vitalani's. Come in, come in, please." His accent was thick with the porteño ornamentation of a man who had lived through the Dirty War and the hay-days of milongas. Eddie unwittingly found him a little enchanting, quickly realizing why young, desperate couples were risking felony charges to have him on their side.

He took Eddie's hand in his own for a moment and surveyed the couple with cheerful evaluation.

"Very lovely." He finally surmised. "You will have such a beautiful child. I am so glad to have you here today. Come, sit."

Jamie and Eddie sat close to one another on a post-modern sofa in the corner of the sterile, white room. Dr. Anziovino sat across from them, hands folded neatly over his crossed legs.

"So tell me why you are here today." He began invitingly.

Jamie decided to lead the charge.  
"Obviously since we're here, you know what the main issue is. In short, my wife and I are having some….troubles. We've had every test done, every option explored, and believe me, it's not for lack of trying…"

Eddie's flushed face was convincing since it was real.

Jamie placed a protective arm around her, hand gripping her side possessively.

"You gotta understand we would do anything. Pay anything. We could't find a surrogate since you have to know one to have one out here. We just don't have that option, and we are running out of time. My dad is dying and wants so badly to meet a grandchild that he's actually helping us with this. But him aside, we want this for us. Ellie wants nothing more than to be a mother and I want to give her the world, you know…"

Eddie was almost touched by the emotion that laced Jamie's delivery. She glanced quickly at Dr. Anziovino's face to see if he had bought it. His expression was unreadable. A seasoned poker face, she thought. He turned to her.

"And what if it doesn't work?"

She was taken aback at his question after his initially warm way of engaging them.

"If it doesn't work, then….I guess it wasn't meant to be." She sounded convincingly heartbroken at the prospect. Jamie tightened his hand on her body.

"I see." The doctor answered. He continued in a professional tone.

"We are here just for couples like you. A desire to have a child together, all other options exhausted, the ability to fund the procedure and surrogacy period…."

"And how much would that be, doctor?" Jamie interrupted timidly.

"It will cost 135 thousand in a two part payment." He informed them.

Jamie swallowed, blown away by the figure, even though they wouldn't even be paying that when all was said and done. "That's fine. Thank you." He choked.

"Do you have your paperwork with you?" Anziovino asked.

Eddie set a folder on the table, complete with the appropriate references, medical records, methods of identification, and wire transfer information, all expertly falsified back at the Police Plaza.

The doctor picked up the file and perused it for about ten minutes, asking questions here and there about its contents. Jamie and Eddie were glad for every second they had studied. Apparently satisfied for the time being, Anziovino tucked the paperwork under his arm. He rose from his seat, motioning to the door. The partners followed as he led them back into the hallway.

"I will need to perform a brief physical examination on Mrs. Vitalani before you leave today. If everything looks good, we will proceed with the hormone treatment to prepare to have her eggs extracted."

Eddie was prepared for this, but terrified nonetheless. Jamie caught her fingers and softly caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. The look in his eyes betrayed that this was much more painful for him than it would be for her. She felt a tightening in her chest and a lump in her throat. Eddie suddenly realized she could do anything as long as Jamie was beside her.

She bravely recollected all the courage that she had almost let slip away.

"Of course. Thank you doctor." Her voice still trembled a little, but no more than anyone else in the circumstances included in their cover story. Any woman would be nervous to undergo this in such a dark, guarded location, a kind doctor notwithstanding.

Anziovino walked them into the next room. It was clean and sparsely furnished. In one corner sat an exam table and a chair next to it, presumably for a partner. An ultrasound wand and monitor were set up on a rolling table off to the side.

"Please." The doctor indicated that Eddie was to situate herself on the table and Jamie in the chair. They obliged.

"If I may, Mrs. Vitalani, I need to examine you with the ultrasound to make sure that nothing looks enflamed or blocked at all. Then I will just need a blood sample. If you could please remove your jacket and shirt." His bedside manner was suspiciously impeccable.

Eddie flashed a panicked glance at Jamie, not realizing that he would be in the room for this part of process. She had signed off on all this; understanding the risk of going undercover into a ring of medical felons. Non-Invasive exams were to be expected on this assignment, but that didn't take the edge off the nerves. Eddie wanted Jamie in the room for safety's sake, but she suddenly felt exposed under his attentive eye. Jamie, sensing this, tried not to watch her anymore than was absolutely necessary in order to convince Anziovino of their marital status. She dutifully unbuttoned and slipped off her sheepskin jacket and silk blouse and handed them to her partner. Eddie was glad she had selected a simple black bra that morning and not something more garish.

Jamie saw the goosebumps on her skin as she laid back on the table. The crest of her hipbones and the shadow of the ribs above and below her breasts were highlighted in the eerily-illuminated room. The altercation weeks before had left a jagged angle to her collarbone that she would probably have forever. She suddenly looked fragile, Jamie thought. It was becoming heartbreaking for him to watch. Eddie was grateful when Jamie opted to stand next to her where she lay on the table instead of staying in the chair. Her hand sought his, quivering slightly.

Dr. Anziovino made quick work of drawing a small syringe from the crook of Eddie's elbow. She gasped a little when he applied the frigid jelly to her bare stomach and situated the ultrasound wand on her abdomen. He drew it back and forth across her belly, examining the image on the screen. He seemed pleased with the results. Jamie's eyes moved from Eddie's face to the screen to the doctor's face to her body on the table to where their hands were joined between them. The whole situation was simultaneously overwhelming and strangely touching for him. He actually didn't mind the idea of standing next to Eddie while she received an ultrasound, he just wished it hadn't been under this pretense and in this context. Dr. Anziovino interrupted his thoughts.

"Very good. Everything looks fine in there. I think you are in good standing to receive the hormone treatment. I will explain to you, Mr. Vitalani, the process for the injections." The two men momentarily turned from Eddie on the table to an informational packet that Anziovino reviewed and then handed over to Jamie.

Eddie dressed herself with Jamie's limited assistance. As they left, Anziovino handed Jamie and Eddie a dozen small vials and corresponding syringes. He explained to the couple that they would gauge her status in a follow up appointment in a couple days. If she progressed in good time and in good health, then they would move forward in extracting her eggs for the IVF process. Jamie took it all in better stride than Eddie had expected him to.

"Thank you, doctor. You have no idea what this means to us." Jamie shook the smaller man's hand, eyes brimming with hope and sincerity.

Eddie thought he deserved an Oscar, and was infinitely grateful for his acting prowess. Her capacity for theatrics was beginning to dwindle for the day.

The doctor nodded politely as he walked them back to the elevator and bid them farewell for the time being.


	14. Chapter 14

Neither partner spoke until they had pulled the car doors closed.

"Are you okay?" Jamie looked at Eddie knowingly.

"Of course!" She sounded far too chipper.

"Okay…" His tone indicated how little be believed her.

"I mean it. It was a much more professional and calm experience than I thought it would be." She knew she needed to appear strong for his sake.

"Well yeah. I mean they're dealing with paying customers, not other criminals. They have to be that way."

"True."

"Eddie, please be honest. If you aren't comfortable with this….I mean it's your body. None of this is going to feel very good, not to mention the antibiotics you have to take on top of it in case a blood draw went wrong or whatnot. Are you sure you're able to go through with the hormones?"

"Well, Reagan, Dr. Anziovino said that you would have to do the injection part itself, so the question is, are you?"

Jamie grimaced, unsure. He knew how much this assignment meant to Eddie but he hated the idea of putting her within one thousand miles of harm's way.

"I will respect your call in all of this. You know the risks. You're a strong woman and a good cop. Your call will be the final one here."

"Wow Reagan, gonna wax eloquent on me?" There was triumph in Eddie's voice.

"It's true. You say the word, we will be done."

"I won't. You know that."

"Yeah. I guess I do."

They made small talk all the way back to the apartment. Eddie was spent and went to take a shower first. Jamie took that time to spread out all the literature about the procedures involved in surrogacy and review it one more time. He was starting to have a hunch that they would have a hard time bringing outside eggs in for Eddie, given the extent of the in-house medical facilities that they had seen that day. He needed to know what they were up against.

Jamie decided he couldn't stomach the information in front of him anymore and turned it over just in time to see Eddie emerge from the bathroom. She was clad in an off-shoulder oversized tunic and black leggings, drying her hair absentmindedly.

"Everything okay?" She could sense he was troubled.

"Eddie, what if they end up having to harvest from you?"

"Harvest from me?"

"The eggs. For the IVF. Danny and Baez said they had donor eggs on hand. What if these doctors want to take them on the table? What if we can't bring them in?"

Eddie was quiet. Truth be told, she had seen the bruises on a college girl they had arrested a a year back while busting a rave with bad acid circulating the floor. After lashing out at the implication that perhaps she was a victim of abuse, the girl had indignantly given Eddie the whole egg-donor-for money spiel and informed her that and she and her high-and-mighty judgments could fuck right off. She cringed inwardly at the memory of the bruised injection sites.

"Women do it all the time. I think I can handle it."

"Eddie, those needles…."  
"Stoppit. I know. They're big. But you have anesthesia for the extraction itself."

"Sure, but…"

"Jamie. Enough. Thank you, but it's okay. I promise. If it comes to it, I'll be fine. No use fretting, right?"

Jamie stared at his hands, balled into fists on the countertop.

"Right."

"Well, I do know that the hormone treatments need to start tonight, though, because they'll be tracking me on the ultrasound and I'm not a good enough actress to fake changes in the baby-maker." She laughed at herself despite the gravity of the topic.

"Okay. Then I guess let's do it." Jamie sounded unconvinced but compliant. "Sofa or bed?"

"Bed. Maybe it'll relax me and put me to sleep." Eddie said dryly.

Eddie laid back on the plush white comforter, switching on the lamp on the nightstand. She pulled her shirt up and folded down her leggings a little to expose the soft curve of her abdomen, just below her belly button. She bit her lip as she stared at the ceiling. Jamie sat one legged on the bed next to her, flicking the air bubbles out of the syringe as he swirled the ominous fluid around inside. Eddie gasped a little when he touched an alcohol swab to her skin.

"Dammit that's cold" she sucked in the air nervously.

"I'm sorry about this, Eddie, I really am."

Jamie flinched more than Eddie did when he pricked her and emptied the syringe through the half-inch needle. To be honest, the pain wasn't terrible. Eddie heaved a sigh of relief when he was done, but immediately noted the tenderness at the injection site where the FSH had permeated the tissue.

"You good?" Jamie put a small bandaid over where the needle had broken the skin and rearranged her shirt in cavalier fashion. Eddie lay still, arm over her eyes, face turned upwards.

"Yeah just enjoying this bed. We should do undercover stuff more often."

Jamie wouldn't argue with that as long as undercover meant playing house with Eddie for weeks on end.

"Sure, partner." Jamie started to get up.

"Jamie…" Eddie reached for him. She sounded oddly scared.

"I'm not going anywhere farther than the other room, okay? I promise."

"Stay…please…" Eddie's eyes were begging him harder than her words were.

Jamie stopped, set down the medical pack, and slowly lowered himself down next to her.

"I…just need you to stay until I fall asleep…if that's okay." Eddie finally confessed. "The nightmares…"

Jamie didn't say anything but turned his body so his face was buried in her hair. He breathed in her shampoo and the aroma of her skin. She turned on her side as his hands guided her to curve into him. She fit like a puzzle piece, he mused.

Most other men would have had a hard time keeping themselves under control in this situation, Jamie correctly conjectured. But this was not like that. Jamie wasn't denying that he had had to fight his subconscious to keep Eddie clothed and far away from him in his dreams, but right now was sweeter and more profound than that. It was just a caring partnership, if he really wanted to stretch it. He raised himself up to turn the lamp off, planting a gentle kiss to her temple on his way to lay back down. Jamie and Eddie fell asleep in that position; fighting away each others nightmares, holding off each others' loneliness.

It was the warmest, safest, and most content either of them had felt in a long, long time.


	15. Chapter 15

"Oh my godddd." Eddie pressed a finger to her throbbing temple as she reached for the unnecessarily loud alarm clock. It informed her with it's glaring green glow that it was 7 in the morning, thought it was still dark outside.

She rolled onto her back and suddenly remembered that she had shared her bed with her partner the night before. Jamie miraculously didn't stir as she pried his arm from her waist.

Damnit. Two weeks ago she was still going out with other men like a good partner should in their situation. Now they were spooning through the night in a Manhattan high-rise with nothing but time and solitude on their side. She dreaded the idea that this may actually force them to define what the hell they were doing. She didn't want that. She wanted her partner. To be fair, she also wanted Jamie in not-as-chaste ways so badly sometimes that it physically hurt. But she still wasn't sure what Jamie wanted, and you had better believe that she was never going to make the first move as far as they were concerned.

Eddie tossed her legs over the side of the bed and stood up groggily. After making coffee and staring contemplatively out the window for a good twenty minutes, she started to grow antsy, as was true to her nature. Donning running shoes and a light jacket, she exited the apartment, jogging down a few flights of stairs to the bustling NYC morning outside.

The cold air stung her throat and lungs, but it was good to be out running again. Her recovery period from her injuries had felt eternal and she had started to act like a cranky caged lion by the end of it. Eddie rounded a corner a few blocks from their safehouse. A shadow at her 5 o'clock suddenly startled her. She spun around. Nobody was there.

Eddie resumed her pace with an occasional glance over her shoulder. The rest of her run went uninterrupted. She walked around the park in front of the apartment building to cool off when she finished, anxiously taking notes on her surroundings. Something felt off. She felt her throat tighten when she realized that two men were maintaining a perfect line of sight and distance from her. Eddie knew immediately from their size and stature that they were the two men from the hallway the day prior. Intel reconnaissance? Character vetting? She mulled the reasons for their presence over in her mind while she tried to maintain a facade of calm and casual indifference. Eddie sped up a little as she entered the building and took the stairs two at a time to the apartment door.

Jamie was anxiously pacing the kitchen floor when Eddie burst through the door. Her expression was pale and unreadable. He strode to her and grasped her firmly by the shoulders.

"Where. Were. You?"

Confusion flashed across her face.

"On a run. Why?"

"No. You don't get to leave like that. You can't. That's irresponsible and could've gotten you in trouble. The whole reason we are staying here is because the detectives who did the legwork for this seem to think that there is a vetting process for participants, unbeknownst to them. Those cronies are probably watching us….following us…..and we don't know how safe they are.

Don't ever leave like that again, please." Jamie seethed.

His stomach dropped when the look in her eyes told him that she had come to realize this all on her own.

"They're outside, Jamie. In the park."

Jamie released her and strode past the window. He didn't dare turn his head towards the park itself but dropped his eyes as he pointed his face straight ahead. Sure enough, two men, suspiciously alone, were walking slowly through the maze of sidewalks in the open green space. He saw one of them look straight at him in the window and calmly forced himself to admire the sky for another minute before heading back to Eddie, out of sight from their auditors.

They stared at one another for a solemn minute.

"Well, we will deal with how to come and go for our briefings later, I guess." Eddie sounded just as nervous as she felt. She went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Jamie heard the shower running and took it correctly as a sign that she didn't wish to dwell on this more than they had to.

This was not Jamie's first potentially dangerous undercover assignment. Knowingly running into harm's way was one thing when you were doing it alone and were only responsible for your own safety. It was another thing entirely when you were charging head-on together with the person you want to keep safe most in the world.

Jamie rapped softly on the bathroom door.

"Jamie? Did you need something?" Eddie called from the shower.

"Can I come in for a second? I need to talk to you quick…."

"Sure." She sounded puzzled at his urgency.

Jamie slipped in and shut the door behind him. He leaned on the sink.

"Eddie, I think we need to rethink our next few weeks here. These guys are leery and are not gonna be an easy sell. I'm gonna talk to Danny later today and see what he thinks we should do. I guarantee they will tail us anywhere we go, which rules out returning to the precinct for any reason at all. Are you gonna be okay if you can't go home for the foreseeable future?"

Eddie turned the water off and snagged the towel from the counter next to Jamie, clutching the shower curtain to her chest.

"Sure, but my hot-shot lawyer husband might owe me a shopping trip." She winked, trying to keep a brave face for his sake.

Jamie rolled his eyes.

"Eddie this is serious."

Eddie stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, hair still dripping.

"I know, I just….I mean I'm in this 100 percent. If we have to readjust then so be it." She crossed her arms and matched Jamie's posture, silently bidding him speak.

"It's going to take a little more of a personal touch to fool them." He was being characteristically cryptic.  
"Meaning?"

"Meaning this whole husband and wife thing needs to be more convincing than we originally thought. They're literally watching through our windows, Eddie."

Jamie watched his drift dawn on her, the red seeping into her cheeks.

"Well…." Eddie said quietly, "we better get started on that."

She sidestepped him and walked out into the living room, making a beeline for the window.

"Eddie, what the hell? Put clothes on."

"Come and make me, Mr. Vitalani." She raised him a challenging eyebrow.

A smile tugged at the corner of Jamie's mouth. He understood her now.

Eddie stood with one knee on the windowsill and combed her fingers through her hair, purposefully making it look like she was unaware of her audience. Jamie moved over to her. They needed to put on a good show? Well joke was on everyone else because he'd been rehearsing this for over a year now, countless hours every day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Eddie looked understandably surprised when Jamie grasped her wrist and spun her around to face him. Her skin was silky and warm beneath his touch as he traced his fingers underneath her forearms up until he gently gripped her elbows, one in each hand. With his new leverage, he began to draw her up to him. It was a calculated move. The shrugging motion loosened the towel around Eddie's chest and it began to fall away in front. Jamie maximized these physics flawlessly. As momentary panic clouded Eddie's eyes, he pressed her against him, catching the towel at her back so that it only fell open at the front where he quickly filled its void. Gathering her to his chest, Jamie pressed a deep and longing kiss to her lips that were still beaded with the water raining from her freshly-washed hair. He took a split second as he kissed her to glance over Eddie's head at their stalkers. Both men had noticed them. He was satisfied with their attention.

Breaking the kiss but keeping his lips lightly touching her forehead, he walked them backwards away from the window until they were safe from wandering eyes. Fully aware that Eddie was crushed against him, naked as the day she was born, Jamie swallowed hard and gripped the open sides of her towel. He looked up at the ceiling as he wrapped her back in it, praying to the powers that be for strength and will to resist temptation.

Eddie's thoughts in the moment were not quite as sophisticated. They weren't even fully formed thoughts, for that matter. One minute she was playing that classic cat and mouse game with Jamie like always, of which she was completely in control; the next he was kissing her, her skin flush with his striking masculinity. By the time he had rewrapped her in her towel, Eddie was rendered speechless.

Undercover or not, this was not the Jamie she knew. This man was libido and initiative and espionage all wrapped into one breathtaking package. Jamie broke away first. He tried his damndest to suavely play off his actions as a mere gesture to the fool the enemy, snapping his fingers and looking smug. Somehow Eddie sensed that it was instead she who had been fooled by his brilliant performance.


	16. Chapter 16

Eddie was standing in the bathroom, examining the bruise from the hormone injection administered the night before. It didn't hurt too much yet but she knew that about ten of these later she would be feeling pretty tender. She took her time dressing herself, drying her hair, putting on makeup, and touching up her nail polish. It was rare to have this time and opportunity to pay attention to herself like that. She savored it.

Jamie was out in the kitchen having a quiet but agitated conversation with Danny over the phone. Eddie knew he was worried about the unexpected level of surveillance and she didn't mind laying low in an entirely different room for a moment while they talked. Even looking at Jamie would bring back all the feelings of fifteen minutes prior when he had held her bare skin possessively against the soft cotton of his shirt, kissing her in a way he never had before. She could still feel the heat in her face.

"Hey Eddie, you finished yet?" Jamie called.

"Yeah, what's up?" Eddie forced an even tone back into her voice, coming out from the bathroom. Her blonde hair was offset by a merlot open-shoulder top, black leather pants, and riding boots. She grabbed her bomber jacket as Jamie silently admired her sultry urbanite look.

"Danny thinks we should go to dinner today in Bay Ridge. It's Sunday tradition, after all." He stated plainly.

Eddie regarded him with wide eyes, brows furrowed in obvious disagreement. Jamie knew that look all to well.

"Please? It might be the only chance we get to talk things over with him for the next few days. We can't meet at the precinct, and if they do tail us to the house, it's not like 'Frances Reagan the Police Commissioner' is scrawled all over it or something. It will just look like a normal family gathering. It might even be _good_ for our cover."

Eddie considered this.

"I'm not gonna lie, I'm more scared of going to Reagan family dinner than I am of hanging out here by myself with those two thugs outside."

"You know I can't let that happen."

"Why not? Eventually we will need to part ways since being married, working together, and only moving around the city in tandem will be suspicious."

"We will find ways to separate in safer circumstances, Eddie. I can't let you be here alone just yet. We don't know enough about their methods. Please come to dinner. My family will be cool about everything. This is not the first time someone has been undercover."

"Yeah but your dad is my boss, Jamie, and right now your brother is my supervisor. Not to mention all the questions we are going to get about this."

"They won't ask much. They know better."

Eddie rolled her eyes, realizing lawyer Jamie was going to back down easily.

"Fine. But you owe me one. Actually, you owe me two; one for dinner, one for that stunt you pulled earlier."

Jamie feigned innocence, relieved that she had ceded.

"Surely I don't know what you mean. That was just some marital affection right there."

"Sure, Reagan. Try that excuse on any other woman and see what it gets you."

"You mean you didn't enjoy that?"

"Oh, you little…" Eddie lunged at him, trying to put him in a play chokehold. Jamie easily swung her around his front and pulled her arms behind her in mock arrest. He folded her over the back of couch like it was a patrol car hood. He immediately released his grasp when he heard Eddie suck in a sharp breath.

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No, sorry. Just a sore spot from last night."

"Damn it, Eddie, you should have shown me. We need to be watching that stuff."

"It's normal. I checked."

"Can I see?"

He brashly didn't wait for an answer but gently lifted Eddie's shirt above her stomach. Sure enough, a darkening bruise graced her belly. He lifted his eyes to hers, letting go of her clothing.

"I'm sorry, Eddie."

"Im not. It's part of the job."

"It doesn't have to be."

"It's a sacrifice we make for the sake of catching the bad guys. That's all." She could be infuriatingly pragmatic.

Jamie wisely changed the topic.

"Anyways, you ready to go? It'll take a little while to get to Bay Ridge."

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The couple walked down to the car, both taking note of the two men getting into an older, dark green 4-Runner and trailing them a few cars behind.

Jamie made a good show of helping Eddie from the car and taking her hand as they approached the stately brick entryway. He let go against his better judgement as they opened the door, not wanting to make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already was. They were a little early and not by accident. Danny clapped Jamie on the back.

"Green Toyota." He said quietly, watching Danny's eyes search the street over his shoulder until he saw the offending vehicle.

"How many?"

"Just the two from outside the apartment. They were at the clinic."

"Any weapons?"

"Dunno. Seems like they're just assigned to verify the harmlessness of the clients."

"So basically to make sure they're not what you two are." Danny's tone was dry and knowing.

"Basically."

"Well, I hope you can see this as an opportunity to tune some of your finer points of partnership, pretense aside."

"Shut up, Danny. You know it's not like that."

"No, I don't know that, but for this, I don't care. You do what you need to do."

"Yeah. We will."

"How is Eddie?"

"Fine, I think. It's hard to tell. She's too stubborn to complain. The physical was awkward but nothing threatening. She's only received one injection so far and it left a bruise but she didn't seem to bothered by it."

"She's a tough girl."

"Yeah. She is."

Eddie, hearing her name, turned away from where she and Linda had greeted one another and were catching up on innocuous news from the hospital and the precinct. She made eye contact with Jamie who nodded to her, signifying that shop talk was out of the way.

"Would anyone like a drink?" Henry Reagan emerged from the kitchen, a bottle of single malt in his hand.

"Please." Jamie and Eddie answered in unison. Danny snickered at their dynamic. He knew they barely had to act for this undercover.

"You must be Edit." Henry extended a hand which Eddie took bashfully.

"The one and only." She sounded nervous.

Jamie patted her shoulder.

"Pops, this is Eddie, my partner. Eddie, my grandpa, Henry."

"I've heard so much about you." She gushed, feeling a little less tense.

"Right back atcha."

Eddie thought she saw him wink, but could've imagined it.

"Welcome, Miss Janko."

Eddie whirled as Frank's hospitable voice boomed from the stairway. Jamie saw the muscles in Eddie's neck tighten again. He came up closer beside her.

"Commissioner. Thank you for having me today." She breathed.

"Oh please. Call me Frank." His large hand swallowed her tiny one and shook it warmly.

"I understand the two of you have earned the faith of our department in regards to your competency in undercover assignments. We have great faith in you. Thank you, Eddie, for your dedication and service."

"No sir, the pleasure is all mine." Eddie looked diminutive and timid next to the huge man.

Jamie subtly put his hand on her lower back in a supportive gesture. They exchanged a small smile as everyone else began bustling around to set the table and finish dinner.

"Eddie, wanna come help me in the kitchen? You're probably sick of Jamie anyways." Linda called she walked down the away from them through the dining room. Eddie shrugged at Jamie and followed her.

Eddie was basking in the atmospheric warmth and intimacy of the Reagan household. They didn't have this when she was little, even before her dad's incarceration. The Janko family was as stoic European as they come and Eddie always had yearned for that Norman Rockwell picture-perfect family experience. She knew the Reagans were far from perfect, but she was enjoying it regardless.

The now ten of them made their way to the table.

"Who would like to say grace today?" Frank opened.

"I would." Jamie said softly. "I'm feeling thankful today that everyone is safe….and here with us."

Nobody said it, but they all knew he was probably more thankful for one attendee in particular.

"Thank you, son." Frank beamed as they all bowed their heads.

As he recited the old, familiar words, Jamie reached under the table and gave Eddie's hand a quick squeeze. She returned it before sweetly resting her hand on his knee for just a second. Both of them retreated to their own heads for a moment, relishing the nearness and familiarity of their partnership. Even if that's all it ever could be, for each of them it had become one of the most important relationships they would ever have. Sure they had their daydreams and desires, but the type of connection they had, day in and day out, was somehow worth all the suppression.

"So Eddie, how does it feel to be one of the first non-Reagans at this table in….honestly years?" Nikki got right to the point.

"Who was the last one?" Henry butted in before Eddie could answer.

Everybody looked around the table, praying someone else would jump in. But it was Eddie who saved the moment.

"I'm guessing it was Sydney, eh Harvard?" She playfully turned with an expression of obviously fake dismay.

"That's enough out of you, now." Jamie answered, eyes rolling dramatically.

The rest of the family laughed, relieved at the humor.

"To answer your question, Nikki, it feels terrifying." She winked.

"So you guys are spying on someone?" Sean asked innocently.

"That's enough questions out of you, young man." Danny put a stop to the interrogation before it could start. "It's top secret."

Sean was surprisingly satisfied with that answer.

"You must be good at what you do to have been pulled multiple times now into undercover ops in your first few years on patrol." Erin leaned as she spoke to Eddie.

"Nah nothing like that. The last one was just because I spoke Serbian…"

"And because you were the right profile." Danny interrupted.

"What's that?" Nikki was interested.

Eddie started to put a hand up to stop the slightly embarrassing banter, but Danny cut back in.

"What was it again? Oh yeah, something like young, blonde, and hot." He paraphrased Eddie's original assessment of the desired UC characteristics, obvious teasing in his voice.

"Hey now…" Eddie laughed.

"Leave the poor woman alone." Linda backhanded Danny on the chest lightly but everyone at the table was already chuckling as they pretended not to stare at how red both Jamie and Eddie's faces had grown.

"Why do you have a man's name?" Sean spoke again.

"Sean!" Linda gasped.

"It's okay," Eddie laughed, "It's because my name is Edit, Sean, and Eddie seemed better I guess"

That seemed to make perfect sense to Sean.

The opening comedy act lightened the mood for the rest of dinner. Though she had originally been nervous, Eddie was sad when it came time for her and Jamie to head home.

Danny pulled them into the living room and hosted a brief revisiting of protocol and made a few revisions to how they would work around the thug detail that had been following them. He slapped them both on the shoulder and wished them continuing luck.

Everyone hugged the pair goodbye. Eddie turned back to look at the house one more time as they got in the car. The windows were lamplit and inviting. She thought to herself that heaven itself was probably not dissimilar to the feeling of coming home to such love and such warmth.


	17. Chapter 17

Jamie and Eddie didn't speak much on the way home. Jamie was glancing in the rearview mirror every few minutes at the green vehicle behind them as he maneuvered Eddie's car through the Manhattan traffic.

"Thanks for today. You were right. It was good." Eddie broke the silence.

"You did well, Janko. They liked you."

"Of course they did." Eddie sounded feisty but yawned as she spoke. Jamie noticed her nodding off and decided to let her sleep the rest of the way.

By the time they had pulled up back the apartment, Jamie had memorized the shadowy faces in the vehicle behind them. The 4-Runner parked a few spaces away, but this time the two men stayed in the vehicle. It seemed like they planned to watch them go into the apartment and call it a night. He opened Eddie's door and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, we're home."

Eddie rubbed her eyes. She stumbled out of the car, leaning on Jamie for support. Jamie wrapped an arm around her shoulder and they made their way upstairs.

As sleepy as she was, Eddie still new she needed the second shot. Jamie had settled into the second bedroom for the night when she wandered in holding an already drawn syringe and an alcohol swab. Jamie sat up, realizing they had almost forgotten. Eddie turned her eyes downward when she saw Jamie was only wearing boxer shorts. She had seen it all before, but for some reason tonight it made her nervous.

"Oh hey, sorry, Eddie. I completely blanked on that."  
"It's okay, I almost forgot too." She handed him the instruments.

"You wanna lay down?"

"I'll stand. It's quick anyways."

Jamie sat on the side of the bed and Eddie stood in front of him, her shirt raised in one hand. She gasped a little when Jamie placed a hand on the skin on her side to steady her while he held the needle in the other.

"Your hand is freezing, Reagan!"

"Sorry," he laughed, "Warm it up for me?"

He coyly pushed it a little farther upwards, sliding it under her shirt in back.

"Jamie, give me the damn shot." Eddie commanded, catching his hand under hers to hold it still.

Her voice was chastising. He obeyed, trying to avoid any of the bruised area.

"Thanks." She retrieved the used medical items and headed for the door.

"Is something wrong?" Jamie stood, moving slowly toward Eddie like he was afraid of scaring her.

"No, I'm just exhausted. That was a lot of socializing for me today." Her voice was light but dry.

"Yeah. Thank you, Eddie, for coming. It allowed me to go, and I think my family really enjoyed having you there." Jamie crossed his arms in front of him and took another step towards her.

"Well, they were very gracious. I loved it. We didn't have that in my house." Eddie said softly.

Jamie watched her move a hand to her slightly sore abdomen, setting the used syringe and swab on the nightstand between the bed and the door. This was not the first time he had wanted so badly to wrap Eddie in his arms and all but crush her against him, nor was it the first time he had felt the protective swell in his body as he glimpsed a moment of feminine vulnerability in his tomboy partner.

But this time, for the first time, he saw before him someone who felt like family. He wanted to care for her in ways beyond hearing her enraptured and satisfied moans as they tumbled onto his bed, beyond kissing her in a moment of weakness when her eyes had begged him to do so, beyond having her back as they pulled their weapons and slammed the patrol car doors. He wanted to do more for this woman beyond the fantasies of his imagination and the normalcy of their daily routines. It was the most infuriating feeling.

He wanted so much more between them, but moving their relationship in either direction would sacrifice the other side. He shook his head slightly to clear it.

Eddie saw a flicker of all his mental distress as he watched her. She knew what it was because she felt it too. That was exactly why she had started to leave the room with little to none of their normally flirtatious interaction when they found themselves alone. She didn't want to, but she knew it was the right thing to do.

She turned away from him and reached for the doorknob. Jamie acted on his now-or-never instinct. He caught her by the elbow and pulled her back to him, wrapping his arms around her waist and her shoulders and laying his cheek against her hair. They simply stayed that way for a moment. It was just a hug, Eddie thought, nothing more nothing less. Why was it doing this to her heart? She conquered a little bit of distance between them with her hands to his chest.

"Night, Reagan." She smiled over her shoulder as she closed his bedroom door.

Jamie stood with his forehead in his hand, elbow propped against his other arm over his chest. She was not his to have and to hold. Not for real, anyways. He let out a frustrated sigh as he fell against the myriad throw pillows on his bed.

Eddie leaned against the other side of his door in similar fashion, spent by the amount of willpower it had taken to wiggle away from his tempting embrace. If two days under had told them anything, it was that it would be a very long few weeks.


	18. Chapter 18

Dr. Anziovino left a message on Jamie's burner phone somewhere around midnight, though Jamie never awoke to hear it.

He groggily pressed the play button at 6 am when his alarm went off.

"Hello, Mr. Vitalani. I would like to have you and your wife come into the office today to perform the second physical and begin our discussion on the next steps of the surrogacy. I will see you at 9 o'clock at our office. Thank you."

Jamie sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes. They had three hours before they needed to be there. That was plenty of time to assemble themselves for a slightly more probing visit to the office. Time was of the essence and they needed to make the most of it. He rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom.

Jamie pushed Eddie's bedroom door open quietly, toothbrush hanging from one side of his mouth. She was still sleeping, one hand beneath her head. Her other hand clutched the sheet that was draped over her hip, well accentuated by the one leg cast forward in an almost seductive pose as she lay on her side. Jamie didn't wake her just yet. She was so beautiful when she slept. Quiet too. He thoroughly enjoyed her inability to scold him for staring and simply took it in for a moment.

Finally he sat on the bed next to her and placed a hand on her thigh. Her eyelids fluttered open.

"Is everything okay?" She sat up sleepily.

"Yeah, just wanted to let you know we have an appointment at 9."

"Okay. Thanks." Eddie yawned as she stood up and stretched. She left Jamie sitting on her bed and went straight to the coffee maker.

Ten minutes later found the partners huddled over their coffee cups scheming up their reconnaissance goals for the appointment.

"I'm sure he's going to need me back on that table. Maybe before I go in, I ask for a restroom since he'll be pressing on my bladder and all and use that to look around for a moment."

"Sure but do you really think he won't have guards in there?"

"I'll look lost while I wander…pretend not to notice them, ya know. It'll force them either to speak to me or it'll give me a chance to map the different rooms."

Jamie looked duly skeptical.

"I'd rather not have you do it alone."

"Oh yeah, let's have the husband tell the doc he needs to help his wife pee. Seems normal."

"Okay okay, I get it, but there's gotta be a safer way."

"Nothing to worry about, Reagan. I'm a big girl."

"Sure you are. You're four feet tall."

"Shut up. Let's just go do this thing."

Jamie sighed discontentedly but pushed out his chair nonetheless, once again letting her call the shots.

"So what happened with you last night, exactly?" Jamie interrupted Eddie's thoughts as they drove to the clinic.

"What do you mean?"

"You seemed distant."

"Distant for what? A wife? I wasn't aware they had bugged the bedrooms."

"No, distant for us."

Eddie chewed her lip for a second.

"I guess I just figured we should be able to maintain some level of professionalism, despite our circumstances with the undercover. No need to be acting all the time ya know."

If only she knew how much of an act it wasn't, Jamie thought to himself.

Eddie's phone beeped; a text message.

"Who's that?"

"Why does it matter? It's my personal phone, not the burner."

"I guess it doesn't."

Three more alerts later, and Jamie pressed the issue.

"Seriously Eddie, is it Jake Singer come back from prison or something? Who the hell needs your attention that bad?"

Eddie was getting annoyed.

"Look, Jamie, I have a life outside of this….us….work, you know. I met a guy last week at the coffee shop nearest my apartment. He was nice, so we grabbed a drink. He's just asking for another. Innocent stuff, this."

Jamie's stomach dropped and twisted in ways that took his breath away.

"Oh. Well that's great for you." He finally managed.

"Why are you saying it like that?"

"Saying what like what?"

"You know what, nevermind. I'm not gonna play like this. We have a job to do."

Eddie was the first to open her door as they parked, taking a second to breathe in and prepare herself for what lie ahead in the building in front of them.

The maze felt familiar this time and they stood idly by in the hallway upstairs, waiting for Anziovino to appear in the doorway of the exam room.

He appeared behind them instead.

"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Vitalani. I trust you are well."

Eddie almost jumped out of her skin.

"Y-yes. Thank you." She stuttered. Jamie extended his arm and shook the doctor's hand.

He led them into the ultrasound room and hand them sit as they had the previous appointment.

"Today I will be checking you with the ultrasound again, Mrs. Vitalani, and then I have a few things I would like to discuss with you in the consultation room. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes. That should be fine."

"Perfect, now let's proceed. I have a gown for you today." Anziovino handed Eddie the light blue shift dress.

"Thanks. Um, do you think it would be alright if I used the restroom first? I had a little too much coffee this morning." She smiled sweetly, subtly tugging her hand away from Jamie who was squeezing her fingers in protest.

The doctor looked at her for what seemed like an eternity.

"Yes of course. You will find it two doors down. I will discuss some of the financial details with your husband while you are gone." He turned to Jamie as Eddie left the room.

Closing the door casually behind her, Eddie cast a glance up and down the hallway. There was nobody to be seen. It was odd, she thought.

She tried the doorknob on the first door over. It was locked. She skipped the next, knowing it was the restroom. The third door was open. She cracked it, looking one more time over her shoulder, not making a sound.

It was clearly an office. There was a desk, covered in neat stacks of paperwork, a dim lamp on its corner. She closed the door and moved into the room, taking a mental picture of every detail she could; a locked file cabinet, nothing on the walls except for a blinking router, 6 files on the desk, each tagged with a different female name, 6 more files on the other side, each tagged with two names, presumably couples. Eddie whipped the phone out of her pocket and notated the names as quickly as she could.

Suddenly heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Eddie waited until she heard them round the corner and used that moment to exit the room as quickly as she could. Her hand was almost on the exam room doorknob when she felt a presence behind her. Eddie whipped around to face a large, leathery face. The man looked young enough, but like he'd seen a war or two. She quickly summoned the shrinking-violet facade.

"Hello. I'm sorry, I got a little lost on my way to the restroom….just returning to Dr. Anziovino now…" She started to move away from him. He slowly but firmly held her arm in a herculean grasp.

"Medical offices can be dangerous, ma'am. Please don't wander alone. Something could happen." He dropped his hand and moved down to his station at the hallway's end.

Eddie took a shaky breath and re-entered the room where Jamie and Anziovino were bent over a few documents.

Jamie immediately noticed the pallor in her face. He grasped her fingers as she approached the exam table, noticing that they trembled slightly. Anziovino handed Eddie the gown again and left the room for propriety's sake. They could still see the outline of his head in the frosted glass and opted not to discuss what had just happened in the hallway. Eddie told Jamie with her eyes that she was alright. She began to undress.

"You gonna keep staring, Jamie?"

"Sorry." He blushed, having been caught.

"Actually, would you tie me up?" Eddie turned her back to him, holding the gown closed as best she could.

"Lord have mercy….and lead us not into temptation.…" Jamie mumbled under his breath

"What was that?"

"Nothing." He swallowed hard as he finished up, trying not to focus on the bare skin of her back as he tied a clumsy bow knot.

He rapped lightly on the door to signal the doctor to return.

Anziovino crossed the room and set up the ultrasound, laying a sheet across Eddie's legs for modesty's sake as he pushed the gown up over her belly. He was a bit rough for Jamie's taste as he applied the jelly and pressed the wand onto her abdomen. The bruising had grown and Jamie didn't like the look of it at all. It must have been normal, though, because the physician never flinched.

"It looks good, Mrs. Vitalani. The follicles have expanded, which is the desired result of the hormone treatment." He set the wand down and proceeded to use his fingers to map out her anatomy through the skin on her stomach. Neither Jamie nor Eddie were prepared for the next part, but Eddie handled it like a champ. Anziovino asked Eddie to place her feet on the table, rearranging the sheet as he did, mirroring the positioning of an OB/GYN exam. Jamie held Eddie's hand but kept his eyes on the floor. He only looked up to her face when he heard her gasp a little. Anziovino had slid three of his gloved fingers into her, using the outside hand to test the angle of her ovaries. It was a routine exam. It still hurt. But Jamie didn't know what was happening as the intricacies of female medical care had never been explained to him. He looked alarmed. "It's okay." Eddie mouthed to him, still grimacing a little.

Anziovino finished the exam and allowed Eddie to sit up, rearranging her gown. He exited while she dressed.

"Eddie, I am so sorry." Jamie whispered as he undid the ties at her back.

"No it's cool." Eddie murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear nervously. "I've had it done before. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Well you should be winning a medal for your service here, because you're carrying this operation right now."

Despite their current situation, Eddie beamed at the compliment.

Once clothed and collected, the couple met Anziovino in the consultation room where they had first spoken.

The doctor laid out two files which Eddie immediately recognized from the office.

"I have here two potential surrogate mothers that would be willing to carry your child for you. Please take a moment to read over the profiles here and let me know if you would be interested in meeting with either of them in the next week."

Jamie picked up one folder, Eddie the other. They both studied to retain as much as they could without raising suspicion before setting the files down.

"Could we meet them both?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah." Eddie echoed. "I feel that it would help us discern a, you know, spiritual connection, if there was one…"

Anziovino considered this.

"I will see what I can do."

Jamie stood to shake his hand in a moving display of gratitude as they made their exit. He placed a hand on Eddie's hip and kissed her on the top of the head as the elevator doors closed, using the move to raise an eye back into the hallway where he saw the thug and the doctor conferring. He was beginning to feel a little nervous about all of this.


	19. Chapter 19

Eddie didn't say anything when they got back to the apartment, heading straight to the shower. She felt dirty after the exam. It was nothing that hadn't happened to her before, and Anziovino was professional about it, but it was just hard to handle while in the 'job' mentality, not to mention with Jamie in the room. Truth be told it had been a while since she had been active, so to speak. She was a little sore between the legs from all the probing. Eddie grabbed the long flannel button-down she had stolen from Jamie's bag before showering and threw it on, enjoying the comforting feeling and hoping Jamie wouldn't be mad that she borrowed it. She made quick work of brushing her hair and retreating to the comfort of her bed.

Jamie, meanwhile, was busy sending a typed report to Danny in lieu of a phone call. He left out choice details, both unwilling to relive those parts of the appointment as well as not wanting to have Eddie's physical trials documented forever in graphic detail. Eddie had filled him in on the office recon in the car on the way home and he shot Danny the list of names she had collected to run them by the list of missing persons cases they believed to be connected. Jamie paused when he suddenly realized that the shower had been running for much longer than normal. He listened against the bathroom door momentarily until he heard Eddie moving around. She had been acting a little strangely and he wanted to make sure she was fine.

Hearing the bathroom door open and Eddie's bedroom door close soon after,Jamie started to suspect that something was wrong.

"Janko, you all good?" He tapped her door lightly.

"Yeah. Fine."

"Can I come in?"

"Why?"

Silence hung for a second.

"Cuz I'm worried about you."

"Well you don't need to be."

"Eddie, please."

He held his breath.

"Fine. Suit yourself."

Jamie peeked through the crack in the door. He was holding two cups of coffee and an icepack.

He set the mugs down on the nightstand. Eddie was wearing yoga pants and one of his flannels. He tugged on the shirttail.

"I should arrest you for petty theft, Janko."

"Sorry…." She protested. "It was soft. I couldn't help myself."

"Looks better on you anyways."

Eddie reached for the coffee. "Thanks. I needed this."

She eyed the icepack in Jamie's hand.

"You get clocked, Reagan?"

His ears grew red.

"No, uh, it just seemed like maybe, he, you know, hurt you a little. I didn't know if you'd be sore or not."

Eddie took it wordlessly but with a grateful look on her face.

"Good thing I wasn't a virgin or I'd have been really, truly hurting." She muttered, mostly for the entertaining effect it would have on Jamie's expression.

Jamie was taken aback about 50 miles, but collected a response anyways, grasping at humor.

"That and our cover story would have been shot. Can't say the no-baby problem is not for lack of trying if you've never tried. "

"Good point." She raised her mug in deference to his observation.

Jamie pretended not to notice her arranging the icepack between her legs.

He cleared his throat.

"Eddie, I know you figure that was just standing there and 'taking it,' but what you did was really brave today. Not many people could've fielded that the way you did. Sorry I had to be in the room…"

"It's okay. I promise. We're professionals after all."

"Sure, but…"  
"Jamie, don't. Let's drop it. Like you've said, I'm no shrinking violet. I won't shatter."

"I know. But you're my partner."

"Exactly."

Jamie sensed the edge in her voice but continued regardless.

"So I'm not allowed to care?"

"No. We're just not allowed to care too much. You're always the one preaching that, not me. This should not be news to you. Or do you want a new partner?"

"I don't." He almost sounded brokenhearted.

"Well me neither, so I'm going to do what I need to do to keep you….as a partner, that is."

"Is that why you're dating coffee-shop-guy?"

"Dating is not the word for that, and no. I'm just…stepping out. It's been a while."

"Didn't you just try that with Jason and fail?"

"Uggggh, Reagan." Eddie groaned. "Don't bring that up. That was a mistake."

"What if this is too?"

"Are you gonna say that about any guy that isn't you?"

"No." He paused. "Maybe."

"See that's your problem. You want me to stay single forever and just play house like this with you. But Jamie, this is not real life right now. This is not how adults do relationships."

Jamie hung his head and Eddie felt a little bad for how hard she had come at him.

"I know, Eddie. I'm sorry. I just can't imagine letting you ride with someone else at work…you know…out of my sight."

"So you don't trust me to take care of myself."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what _are_ you saying?"

Eddie's eyes were merciless; demanding an answer, demanding honesty.

"I'm saying my feelings for you aren't going away as easily as I thought they would."

Jamie breathed deeply, letting his confession hang heavy in the air.

"Oh." Eddie's voice was barely louder than a whisper. "Well, mine too."

She turned to the other side, leaving her back to Jamie.

Jamie just watched her face for a long few minutes. Her hair was damp and trailing across the pillow, her feet crossed primly next to where Jamie sat. She was so many things that he never knew he wanted and right now all he wanted was to be near to her in ways that he probably shouldn't be, or wasn't allowed to be, for that matter.

It only deterred him for a moment.

Eddie's heartbeat quickened as she felt Jamie move closer to her. He nudged her lightly on the back so that she would roll onto her stomach. His bent leg pressed against her thigh and one of his hands crossed to her other hip so that he was positioned over top of her. They both breathed a bit shallower and faster as Jamie slid his fingers beneath the hem of her shirt, bunching it over his wrist as he gently pushed upwards along her spine.

He stopped when the scar under her ribs lay exposed. Eddie shivered a little.

Jamie spread his hands in warming response over her bare sides. Leaning forward, he planted a kiss on the old wound, an innocent enough gesture, but one that brought Eddie completely undone. She flipped onto her back, searching Jamie's face for all the words that she thought maybe, just maybe, he would finally give her.

She was surprised to see how dark and needy his eyes had become and knew better than to speak for fear of breaking the spell. She urged him on with her gaze, parting her lips invitingly. They had digressed immensely from their conversation about professionalism just ten minutes prior. Amazing how that happened.

Jamie leaned in close and kissed her with all the pent up longing he dared release. He didn't want to sleep with her….yet. Now was not the time. But _damn_ did he need to touch her.

Eddie moaned and arched her back in encouragement as Jamie's tongue danced across her teeth, tasting her, memorizing her. Pulling his lips from hers, he reached up and pinched open a button on her shirt. Then two. Then three. Then the rest, slightly more urgently. He left the shirt closed save for a gap and sat up a little, tracing his fingers from her cheek down her neck, over her collarbone, brushing over the intoxicating swell of her cleavage as he traversed it down, falling in between, and finally fanning over her stomach and inside of her shirt, grasping her side.

His maneuvering inadvertently swept the garment open on one side. Eddie's fingers fluttered to the now-naked half of her chest, maintaining some pretense of covering herself, though poorly so. Jamie sat back on his knees, reverent, unable to will his hands forward to disturb such a lovely picture. Eddie was dazzling; eyes aglow with desire, hair tousled fetchingly, chest heaving with the effort to keep her urges under control, the warm skin on her belly trembling softly beneath Jamie's gentle palm, and only her petite fingers laid over her breast to preserve her dwindling modesty.

Jamie dragged his free hand over his face, obviously conflicted. Eddie reached for the edge of her shirt in an effort to cover herself anew but a quick movement from Jamie's hand over hers halted the motion. Without actually looking anywhere he shouldn't, Jamie laid his head down on Eddie's chest, enthralled by the feeling of her skin against his face.

Eddie was worried Jamie could hear how fast her heart was beating. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth a few times to calm herself, trying her best to ignore the tautness in her nipple in response to Jamie's cheek pressed against it. He wound his right hand beneath her and the left into her shirt on the other side; fingers resting comfortably over her ribs, thumb tracing the underside of her breast still draped by the flannel fabric.

Neither partner really knew how long they stayed this way. Time meant nothing at this point. If time _was_ on the table for discussion, then one could point out that they had been arguing about Eddie going out with another man just mere hours earlier; that a week ago they had both been fully clothed in duty blues, central on the radio; that months ago these feelings were just starting to hit their critical mass point, threatening to boil over; that just a few years ago, they never knew they other person existed.

But the only time they knew was the here and now, and here they now laid with one another, clad half in feverishly-undone clothing and half in sensual abandon, needing to feel the profundity of one another's affection as much as needing to feel the heat and desire of one another's bodies.


	20. Chapter 20

It wasn't until the Manhattan sunset reflected on the neighboring building cast a long, amber glow across the whitewashed floor that Jamie stirred. He could tell by the even pattern of Eddie's breathing that she had fallen asleep, most likely exhausted from her ordeal earlier that day. He raised his head and felt his face growing warm. Eddie still lay on her back, one hand cast over her stomach, one brought up above her head. Only half of her shirt remained somewhat covering her. The other half was spread beneath her side, framing the porcelain curve of her hip and her one bare breast. Her nipple was rosy and erect in the cool air and Jamie, noticing this a little _too_ quickly, had to move his body away from her so as not to aggravate his already uncomfortably tight member by leaving it pressed into her thigh. Finding the gentleman that he had momentarily lost within himself, he folded the shirt back over her chest and delicately managed two buttons on the front, just enough to keep it together when she woke. She would kill him if she knew he looked, he thought. Then again, if she was actually going for her gold shield, she should have been able to figure that one out, empirical evidence aside.

Jamie spryly swung himself from the bed. He went to go find his phone and order in something for dinner. If he knew Eddie, and he liked to think he did, it would be safer to address what had just happened _after_ she had food in her belly.

Eddie was beyond confused when she awoke to both darkness outside the window pane and the smell of Italian take-out wafting through the apartment. She sat up, trying desperately to gain her bearings. A cold draft infiltrated her barely-assembled shirt front. Eddie looked down, quickly remembering every little touch, breath, and heartbeat that had left her so disheveled. She slapped her palms to her eyes, groaning, and hurled her face back into the pillows.

What in the name of _God_ had she been thinking? For that matter, what were they _both_ thinking?

Obviously, neither partner disliked even a second of it. Quite the contrary. Eddie's heart was speeding up just recalling the way that Jamie had explored her so tenderly with both his fingers and his eyes. It left her feeling vulnerable but cherished. She wasn't used to that feeling, but she thought that maybe she enjoyed it. Most of the skeletons in her relationship closet were alpha males and casanovas with the occasional jock tossed in for good measure. Needless to say, up to this point in her life, any lovemaking had been rushed, ravenous, and usually involved either a hazy apartment with roommates nearby or the backseat of someone's car. Lovemaking may have been a generous descriptor, actually. Eddie could not possibly have prayed harder that those days were over.

The only problem now was that she wasn't sure if she was ready for the kind of days that would come.

"Oh, hey there sleeping beauty." Her partner suddenly invited himself back into her room. "I thought I was going to have to come kiss you awake and break some spell or another. You were pretty well conked out."

Eddie couldn't find words for a second; even just seeing Jamie walk through the door was doing profoundly distracting things to her heart, mind, and body.

Jamie, as was expected for someone with investigative inclination, noticed this immediately.

"Reagan…" Eddie's tone of voice was telling. Jamie didn't want to hear whatever regrets were about to spill from her mouth. He cut her off.

"I know. I'm sorry. That was my bad." As much as he hated the words, it was better to say them than to hear them.

"Me too." Eddie was halfway disappointed that he felt the same as she. It wasn't as fun to yield to temptation when both parties felt guilty.

"So…" Jamie started again.

"So that's like the fifth time in a month that we've slipped up." Eddie finished succinctly.

"Yeah. I guess it is."

"We've gotta be better if we are going to make this work."

"Make what work?"

"Our partnership."

Jamie rubbed the back of his neck pensively. It seemed like these days they had reversed roles and all of a sudden Eddie was always the one calling them out. He hated that.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what's been up with me lately I guess. Maybe it was almost losing you, maybe it's just proximity. Maybe we just need to reset somehow."

Neither party actually wanted that, but the facts of the matter where still indisputable. Something had to give. They were dangerously close to an irreversible breaking point.

"Maybe it's time for us to get a dating app." Eddie mumbled.

Jamie wrinkled his nose, not wanting to even dignify that with a response.

"Don't do that Janko. I'll keep my hands to myself."

"It's a two way street."

"Sure. Then we both will."

"Deal."

They shook hands stoically, trying to be lighthearted about it all and failing miserably.

"Want dinner?" Jamie pulled Eddie up off the bed and released her hand.

"Thought you'd never ask." She was starving, she realized.

"Great. But no food until you fix yourself." Jamie turned away from her and walked to the door with a smirk on his face.

Eddie looked down and was horrified at her forgotten state of essentially toplessness; shirt askew in every way possible, everything underneath free for ogling to anyone who could crane their neck or catch her at a bad angle. She quickly adjusted the buttons, face aflame, but not before hitting Jamie in the back of the head from across the room with a pillow.

"Shut up, Reagan. You were looking."

"Not my fault, Janko, not my fault.


	21. Chapter 21

The appointments with Dr. Anziovino had become old hat for Jamie and Eddie. They managed the next whole week without major incident; either medical or emotional. It was almost as if they had flipped a switch back to the arm's-length partnership that they had once maintained. They both knew it was to avoid temptation. That, however, remained glaringly unspoken.

The eighth evening of their renewed professionalism found them both anxiously awaiting Anziovino's call.

Danny and Baez had come over, carrying a bottle of wine for show, arm in arm until they reached the door. They were all waiting on word for a a time and place for Jamie and Eddie to finally meet their potential surrogates.

"And you're sure they haven't made you?" Danny half asked, half accused as he paced around the kitchen. "I mean it's 7 pm and you were supposed to hear by 5. Maybe they got wind and split."

"It wouldn't be an easy operation to just split from." Jamie reasoned. "Besides, we have not reason to think they know anything. They've been completely normal with us all week."

"How are you doing with this?" Baez turned to Eddie, who had been abnormally quiet.

"Fine. I mean I think fine. I certainly haven't had the sense that they would be getting nervous about us now. We made our first payment, have been at all the checkups, I'm up on the hormones…" She looked to Jamie for reassurance.

"She's right. Anziovino has been the same as always, perhaps even more relaxed with us."

Danny nodded approvingly, though perhaps with a glimmer of doubt in his eyes.

"You kids need to be sharp here. This new location will be an unknown. We don't have any more information than you do, so you'll essentially be blind going in. You still feel comfortable? I'm not too keen on wiring you for this part, just in case you get tossed."

Up to this point in the operation, only Jamie had worn a wire. Eddie was always at risk of being asked to expose it.

"What about a weapon?" She asked.

"I'm gonna guess they pat you down. You think you can pack one where they can't feel it?"

"I can certainly try. It'll be easier on me with a high-placed waist strap. I doubt Jamie could put anything anywhere that he wouldn't get frisked. They might be more gentle and less thorough on a woman."

"Sure. Baez can help you rig that if you want."

The burner phone buzzed, sending a ripple through the coffee table. Nobody touched it for a second.

Jamie snapped to in time to clear his throat and and answer without his obvious nerves clouding his voice.

"Hello, this is Jamie Vitalani."

"Good evening Mr. Vitalani."

The voice was not familiar.

"With whom am I speaking?"

"I am an associate of Dr. Anziovino. That is all that is important right now."

"How can I know that for sure?" Jamie tried to sound firm and concerned for the safety of wife without giving away the inquisitional NYPD bit.

"Dr. Anziovino said to tell Ellie that Melina and Shari are waiting."

That seemed like it would be convincing enough for a civilian, so Jamie dropped the questions.

"Where are they waiting?"

"In a place where we will take you."

"What does that mean?"

The man remained ambiguous.

"Be ready in ten minutes outside of your apartment and a green car will come for you."

Jamie didn't like the sound of that at all but agreed nonetheless. The man hung up without further comment.

Eddie, Baez, and Danny watched him in anticipation for the next marching orders.

"Alright, Eddie, it's time." Let's get ready to go."

"Now?" Danny butted in. It's a little late, yeah? Why would they want to meet at night like this."

Jamie shrugged. "I think we have to take it or leave it."

Eddie and Baez went into Eddie's bedroom and strapped a 9 mm to her ribcage, pinning the holster belt to her bra strap and settling the body of the gun just left of her center under her breast. It wouldn't be visible under the shirt if she was careful. This was supposed to just be a meeting, so they hoped it would both be safe and unnecessary to carry. Eddie took a deep breath and let it go slowly as she and Jamie assembled by the door. Danny and Baez clasped hands on their shoulders and gave them a few last rounds of instructions for both reconnaissance and potential extraction. The partners marched solemnly down to the street.

Danny looked down at his phone. A new message popped up on his screen.

"Notification of attempted login.…" He mumbled anxiously to himself.

"What's that?" Baez craned in.

"Nothing, just something stupid on my work email. I"m sure it's nothing." Danny pocketed his phone and strode to the service exit down the hall, an uneasy feeling growling within him.

Jamie and Eddie stood with their backs to the brick outer wall along the sidewalk. It was mid November now and correspondingly cold and drizzly. Neither partner spoke but each correctly guessed at the other's inner turmoil. Jamie stole a glance down at his partner. Eddie's hair was damp and beginning to cling to her leather-clad shoulders. She looked chilled. A few raindrops ran down her cheek and Jamie found himself staring just long enough to assure himself that they weren't nervous tears. She wouldn't have told him if they were. He impulsively reached for her hand.

Eddie didn't look at Jamie. She squeezed his fingers lightly to tell him that she appreciated his touch, but kept her eyes on her feet.

Long minutes went by until, true to their word, the green 4-Runner with which Jamie and Eddie were familiar pulled up to the curb.

The pair could almost feel the adrenaline coursing through one another's fingers; they were wound like springs and had been ready for this night for a long time.

Three men stepped out of the vehicle, none of which the partners had seen before. Stepping away from the streetlights, both Jamie and Eddie took their turns for a brief frisking before being guided into the car. The exchange was certainly cordial enough.

The silence was deafening during the first stretch of the drive. Around twenty minutes in, Jamie decided to make the most of their captive audience.

"So, have you been in New York long?" He posed the questions to nobody in particular.

After a pregnant pause, the man who sat in the backseat with Jamie and Eddie finally answered in a vaguely slavic accent.

"A few years. We are from Prague, here on work visas with the medical company."

Eddie knew they were lying about their nationality based on the speech pattern. She guessed someplace more like Riga.

"I've always wanted to go to Prague!" Eddie jumped in, hoping to draw something from them.

"Jamie said we could go someday as a family when all of…this…is done….maybe. What is it like?"

"It's old. But good." A gruff voice from the passenger seat chimed in. His tone implied that while they had obliged them the niceties of dialogue, this would be the end of the conversation. Jamie and Eddie discerned this and remained quiet for the rest of the ride.

It was hard to tell when exactly they had arrived at their destination. At some point the driver killed the headlights and made at least 6 or 7 turns by complete memory through a series of alleyways, devoid of streetlights and CCTV cameras, Jamie noted. He thought he might have been able to approximate their location but wasn't entirely sure. Either way, he had a GPS device lodged into the back of his phone, though the phone itself had been confiscated by their chauffeurs and was currently turned off and locked in the console.

Danny walked quickly to his desk back at the 5-4. He pulled up the email screen on his computer. Strange, he hadn't even logged in this morning.

"Baez, call Jamie's burner."

She tried, and received the voicemail.

Her eyes told him everything and they stood for just a moment before jolting themselves into sudden movement, grabbing their coats, weapons, and heading down to snag a tech to track Jamie's GPS.


	22. Chapter 22

Gravel spit from beneath the car tires right before they slowed to a halt. The three escorts exited the vehicle first and scanned the area as they helped Eddie down, albeit a bit roughly. Jamie performed the part of the dutiful, gutless husband beautifully as he followed behind. Both partners had a man at their side, grasping their elbows to move them forward into what Jamie surmised was a wharf-side warehouse at one point. They could smell the dank Atlantic coast of the city docks nearby.

The guttural scrape of sliding track doors jarred Jamie and Eddie. They both simply stood and stared at the scene before them. It was like a portal to another dimension; beyond the warehouse entryway lay a massive room, bedecked with chic interview room furniture, low lighting, and 12 doors flanking each side. The building's brutal exterior was contradicted by its soft underbelly.

Eddie found it easy to hold an expression of bewilderment and admiration as she and Jamie were led to sit on an armless burnt-orange settee in the center of the room. The blueprint similarities to a high-end riding stable were uncanny and unnerving to both partners. Jamie shuddered internally at the thought that all 24 doors could potentially be holding rooms of some sort. He prayed to God they were not.

They were only left to their thoughts for a matter of seconds. A posse of half a dozen security guards, their escorts included, stood at attention at clearly pre-designated points around the seating area. From the door closest to the sliding entryway emerged a man in a white coat whom neither Jamie nor Eddie had ever seen before and Dr. Anziovino.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Vitalani. Welcome to our residential clinic. I hope the trip here was not too disconcerting for you. Since you came to us, I am sure you understand the precautions necessary for us to preserve our operation and continue to be able to help wonderful young couples such as yourself."

"Of course, yes. Thank you, sir." Jamie sounded eager and grateful, aiming to strengthen the physician's faith in their sincerity. It was amazing to both partners that an operation like this had persisted for so long on the dime and desperation of generally honest, good people. There was much to be said for someone's desire to have a family after all other options were exhausted.

"Now then." Anziovino continued. "This is Dr. Saravata Jahdeep. He is my associate and will be sitting on our interviews today. He is the surrogate care specialist for our host mothers."

Jamie eyed the Rajasthani man with well-hidden skepticism.

"It's nice to meet you." Eddie held her hand out trustingly.

After the culmination of their pleasantries, the physicians sat across from the partners and Anziovino nodded to a man standing behind Jamie. The surly crony promptly disappeared behind door number 3, reemerging moments later with two young women. They were both Indian at first glance, not dissimilar to Jahdeep. Eddie and Jamie stood.

"Hello, my name is Bhavya, this is Himmat." The smaller of the two girls nodded slightly as she spoke in strained English."

Eddie checked her frown. Those were not the original names that Anziovino had mentioned to them. She wondered what the turnover rate was in an operation like this. She further wondered what would necessitate a turnover at all but quickly put the unpleasant thought to bed.

Jahdeep spoke to the girls in Marwari and they sat on another small sofa to the side of Eddie, their overseer in between them.

The next twenty minutes was a strange triangle of informational exhange; the doctors bouncing questions across the seating area between Jamie, Eddie, and the two potential surrogates. There was little room for either partner to make any of their own inquiries to the girls, which was, they guessed, an effort to limit any incriminating answers.

Eddie's heart had broken a thousand times at this point. Watching both Bhavya and Himmat cowering under their gaze yet still fielding the interrogation with grace was gut wrenching. No girl that age should have to deal with a topic or medical ramification of that gravity. Jamie predicted her distress and moved his hand in slow circles over her lower back.

Jahdeep spit a round of rapid instructions to the two young women and they promptly retreated to their respective door. Detective instincts had set in and Jamie and Eddie had made mental note of all the various persons in the room at that point in relation to which doors in the room had been accounted for. Both had an inkling that this was a dormitory of sorts. The urge to find an excuse to poke around was overwhelming though not victorious; they were too well-supervised.

Anziovino and Jahdeep stood up and signaled for Jamie and Eddie to do the same.

After a round of hand-shaking and parting pleasantries, Eddie and Jamie were walked back to their car.

As they were leaving, a smaller man, dressed like one of the guards though clearly present for a different purpose, slithered by them in the doorway while they were passing through it.

Jamie was sure he had seen him before somewhere, though his face had been turned down. He cast a glance over his shoulder just long enough to see the man approach Dr. Anziovino, still standing in the center of the room. A guard prodded him forward with a firm hand to his back, cutting short his observation.

The man slunk into the seating area.

"Dr. Anziovino, may I have a word?"

"Go ahead." The Argentine man regarded him expectantly.

"My man at the precinct just told me something interesting. You need to keep those two here. They were with 5-4 detectives just this morning. My guy checked an outgoing email from one of the detectives' computers after they left to meet our two 'clients.' This is a set-up. They can't go home."

Anziovino's expression never changed. He simply looked around the room and silently bade every man in eyeshot to go after the escorts before they drove away.

Jahdeep turned on his heel and began to bark orders, making preparations for their two newest residents.


	23. Chapter 23

The driver had barely turned the ignition when two of the guards from inside the building came yelling at the car in rapid Latvian. Though the words themselves meant nothing to them, Eddie and Jamie knew exactly what was going on.

Jamie held onto his partner for dear life as three different men pulled her off of him. A blow to the side of his head with a makeshift nightstick finished the job of releasing his grasp. Blood and darkness flooded his eyes. The last thing he saw as his consciousness faded was Eddie's shirt being torn away and the gun being pried from its holster as she was held fast by the brutes that flanked her.

He raised a silent and agonized prayer up to every god he'd ever heard of to save them.

Eddie felt something warm and sticky dripping off her chin as her eyes fluttered open. The room was dark, cold, and wet as shipwreck. A small sliver of light from under the door glowed on her partner's body. Jamie was laying in front of her, curled with his knees against his chest, hands tied in front of his face. His temple was bleeding and Eddie's heart stopped until she saw the rise and fall of his chest.

She assessed her own positioning. Her hands were tied behind her as she sat slumped against a damp concrete wall; her shirt and gun were gone and the consequent shivering was beginning to wrack her body. Blood dripped from her forehead, over her left eye, and down and off her chin into her lap.

"Jamie…Jamie!" Her whisper was quiet but desperate.

Jamie stirred slightly. Eddie scooted over to him as best she could on bound ankles and knees.

"Eddie..?" Jamie croaked. Breathing hurt, talking more so. His limited medical knowledge told him that a few of his ribs had been kicked in.

"Jamie are you okay? Is there anything broken? Do you remember where we are?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good." Jamie struggled to sit up, quickly realizing his unconsciousness had afforded him far less shackling than what Eddie had received.

"Eddie, you look horrible….did they hit you on the head? Where's your shirt?"

"They left it on the ground by the car. They took my gun." Eddie's voice wavered.

Jamie moved against the wall, standing up shakily for a moment and using his front-tied wrists to help his partner to the same spot. He sat down and brought the circle of his arms over and around her, feeling the chill of her skin. She had stopped trembling which was indicative that she had passed into the next phase of hypothermia. Jamie pulled her body against him as firmly as he could, the searing pain in his ribcage be damned. He rested his cheek on top of her head as he heard a stifled sob escape her lips.

"How did they know…?" She whimpered.

"Dunno. Maybe an inside guy. But Danny had the GPS."

"In your phone?"

"Which was in the car."

"Good god I hope he brings backup." She murmured.

Jamie hoped so too.

The clatter of the deadbolt startled the partners as the door flew open and a blue light blinded them both.

"You're coming with me." A neanderthal of a man sneered as he grabbed Eddie by the upper arm and dragged her with him back through the doorway. She put up a good fight, but a hard shake of the man's vice-like grasp audibly dislocated her shoulder. Jamie's head almost exploded with rage as she cried out in pain, though she quickly composed herself enough to keep kicking her assailant. The red he saw only served to hinder him as he tried to fight off the next man that came in the room to take him away. He managed a blow to the man's bulbous nose but it didn't do much good. The partners were manhandled down a long corridor on the other side of one of the doors and out to a waiting van. Jamie's heart sank when he realized it was a different vehicle than what they had come in.

"Please, Danny. Get here…" He whispered to nobody.

"Shut up." His guard snarled as he shoved Jamie into the back. Eddie was tossed unceremoniously on top of him and the door was slammed shut.

She had begun to shiver again. Jamie suspected it might be physical shock more than cold.

"Eddie, can you talk to me?" He mustered as much bravery in his voice as was humanly possible.

"I'm so sorry…." Jamie was surprised to hear the tears in her voice and could feel them dropping to his chest. He maneuvered his arms over top of her, taking care not to jostle her shoulder.

"I lost the gun…"

"Eddie, don't. That was not your fault."

"What if we die here?"

"We won't."

"And why not? I don't hear sirens. There were so many things I never did….never said…"

"Same…" Jamie breathed emphatically into her hair. He realized this was maybe the only chance he would get to give life to the thoughts in his head and the discord in his heart.

"Eddie….you should know something…"

She didn't say anything, but he took her silence to be a motion for him to continue.

"You should know that not only did my feelings for you never disappear, they grew. They grew every minute we spent in that damned RMP, every time I saw that life and energy in you, that passion for everything you do, every time we succeeded, every time we failed, every time you pissed me off…"

He thought he heard her huff in a sort of laugh.

"Eddie, I….I think I love you. I might not get another chance to tell you…"

"I love you too, Jamie Reagan." She didn't say anything more. She didn't need to.

The pair lay in the back of the van, darkness closing in on all sides, knowing that neither of them was in physical shape to put up a fight with the thugs they could hear scuffling around outside the windows.

They were probably only there for a matter of minutes, but it felt like hours. Gunshots roused them from their silent, labored breathing. The door to the van swung open and the barrel of Danny's gun burst through the haze.

"Danny!" Jamie choked.

"Don't move, kid. Is Eddie okay?"

"I'm good." She rasped, still encircled in Jamie's embrace.

"Great, both of you stay still. I'll have a bus here in less that two minutes. We'll get you on gurneys."

Jamie's head fell back in relief and a second wave of emotion. Eddie laid still but he could feel her tears falling again.

"And hey," Danny shot back over his shoulder as he jogged away, "I'm glad you're both safe."

Jamie smiled wanly, realizing that was the most affection he'd get from his brother during a time like this. Never had he been so thankful for Danny's Reagan grit.

The EMT's lifted Eddie like a broken doll onto the stretcher and carried her to the ambulance. She was slipping in and out, head falling to the side erratically. Jamie could only watch as he was aided in sitting up and another set of paramedics assessed his head injury with a flashlight.

"May I go with her?" He pointed weakly.

The medics looked at one another for a second before nodding slowly. They helped him stumble alongside the stretcher as it was lifted up into the back of the vehicle. Once settled on the bench beside her, Jamie reached for Eddie's hand. A blanket had been tossed haphazardly over her and he reached out to fix it before laying his head carefully onto her stomach. He didn't move the whole ride to the hospital, thanking God above that once again, she was still here.


	24. Chapter 24

"So you're saying we were sold out by one of our own?" Jamie stared at Danny, incredulously.

Danny and Baez stood at the foot of Eddie's hospital bed. She was sitting up, arm in a sling, a fresh change of clothes, release papers on her lap. Jamie sat in the chair beside her. They had been in the hospital for four days now and the two senior detectives had come by to relay the official report. It hadn't felt urgent to do so before that, mercifully allowing Jamie and Eddie time to heal.

"That's what I'm saying. Good news is, the chaos he caused didn't put a dent in apprehending anyone important. We made 16 arrests that night, both doctors included, and found 31 young women in that warehouse. Eight of them had been reported missing, the rest….probably undocumented and assumed dead by their families in other parts of the world."

"That's horrible…" Eddie breathed shakily.

"It is, but they're safe now." Baez comforted her. "More than half of them are pregnant, which is essentially a smoking gun once the babies are born. It shouldn't be hard to track down the people creating this market in the first place."

"What about the medical offices?" Jamie chimed in.

"They were raided. Only two guys there, but a hell of a lot of information condensed in the paperwork in that office Eddie found."

"Well, I'm glad it's over." Eddie swung her feet nervously.

"We all are." Baez added. "So you get to go home now?"

"Yeah." Eddie said shyly, glancing under her lashes at Jamie.

Danny didn't miss the subtle signal. He patted Jamie on the back knowingly.

"Behave yourselves, yeah? And….good work."

"Thanks." Jamie rose as the detectives left the room.

He turned back to Eddie.

"Ready for medical house-arrest round two?" He smiled.

"Yeah yeah. I'm not as bad off this time. I'll be good."

"Well, you know I'll be there if you need help, you know, showering."

"Jamie!" She smacked him over the chest with a surprisingly effective backhand.

They left the hospital, laughing. A soft, fairy-like snow was falling on and around them and the moment felt almost celestial. The warmth and joy of

being together help them forget all that had gotten them to that point. It was almost like old times, though they both knew it never truly could be.

Eddie tossed her duffel bag onto Jamie's bed, inhaling the now-familiar scent of his room. She flopped down beside it and unclasped the sling on her arm.

Jamie walked in timidly.

"You decent?"

"Damn, Reagan, how fast do you think I can get naked?" Eddie teased in fake admonition.

"Probably not fast enough." He grunted to himself as he crossed his arms and shifted his weight.

"What's that?" She pried.

"Nothing. Um, let me know when you're hungry. I just gotta grab a few things in here. Sorry."

Eddie sat up and reached for his arm as he turned to the dresser.

"Jamie."

The leading tone in her voice was unmistakable.

"Yeah?" Jamie's voice dropped an octave.

"Stay with me in here. Don't sleep in the other room."

Jamie considered this with clear and apparent misgivings.

"Eddie, I dunno if I can do that. I just think after all that…everything we went through, everything said in the van, you know….my willpower might be lacking."

"I don't know why that's a problem." Eddie stated plainly.

Jamie's reaction was exactly as she expected. He looked like he was on a teeter totter between elation and apprehension. She toyed with his fingers.

"We're partners, Eddie."

"Not for the next two weeks at least, we aren't"

Jamie rolled his eyes a little. She was making this hard on him. All teasing and flirting aside, he wasn't sure where the impassable line was anymore.

He sat down on the side of the bed next to Eddie and waited until her eyes rose to his.

"Eddie, we've been through hell together, and somehow I think this would be harder to come back from. You know?"

She nodded, breathing out slowly.

"I don't necessarily think I want to come back…"

Jamie silently, visibly agreed.

Lifting his hand to her face he traced his fingers over the side of her cheek, brushing his thumb across her ear and gently grasping her at the back of her neck.

Eddie closed her eyes as Jamie pulled her face to his, briefly resting his forehead against hers before capturing her lips. She tugged at his jacket. He tugged at hers.

The partners held one another with all the desperation and desire that had been almost boiling over for over three years now. Hands and hair and limbs wove into one another as they became a tangle of unspoken feelings.

Jamie pulled away, holding Eddie at arm's length, his eyes drinking in her intoxicating sensuality. Her face was flushed, her lips swollen, and the lamplight painted the tops of her breasts as her chest undulated rapidly. He laid her carefully back on the bed and poised himself over her. His hands rested on either sides of her shoulders as he bent his head to plant a kiss on her crooked collarbone.

Eddie's hand grasped his hip and moved fluidly up his side beneath his shirt. Her fingers danced across his bare skin, drawing invisible pictures on his chest. Jamie shuddered in pleasure at the delicate touch. He aided her endeavors, tugging the shirt the rest of the way off his head. Turning back to his partner beneath him, Jamie breathed into Eddie's neck, nipping at her earlobe and left a scorching trail of kisses down her chest. A small moan resounded from her lips as he tugged the collar of her shirt with a crooked finger.

She raised her arms slowly, still a little sore from the dislocation. Jamie responded by peeling her t-shirt over her head and tossing it behind him in one sweeping motion. He folded his body over her, his mouth roaming over every swell and valley, fingers playing with the strap of her aquamarine lace bra. The turquoise color did enchanting things to her eyes and hair. Jamie still thought she'd look better without it. He raised his eyes to hers one last time…

"Jamie, it's okay." Eddie barely breathed.

As if the words had released an army that had been sentient within him, Jamie descended on Eddie with the constrained passion of a thousand men but the gentleness of just one; just him, the man who had loved her from both near and from afar for years; always from a seemingly chasmic distance. She may have sat beside him every day, a mere foot away, but there was a wall there that he hadn't allowed his mind and body to cross. Until now.

Jamie let his hands drink in the curve of her hips, the ridge of her ribs and shoulders, the soft plains of her belly. He slid a hand beneath her back and fiddled with her bra clasp until it gave way. As if unveiling something sacred, Jamie lifted the silky fabric away from her chest, breathing quickly as he did. Her gaze bid him speak.

"Eddie, you are so beautiful, you have to know that….it's a goddamn shame I normally only get to see you in a uniform…" He trailed off as his hand cradled the side of her breast and his thumb brushed over her nipple. She gasped in obvious delight.

"Then I guess you had better memorize it, Reagan." Her voice was sultry and hoarse.

Jamie laughed in soft agreement and lowered his mouth to taste her normally forbidden skin.

Eddie, being impatient as she characteristically was, made short work of Jamie's belt and zipper. Jamie had to pause to regain himself as her hand provoked him to a raging response. He backed up off the bed for a moment, pulling his jeans off and leaving them in a rushed heap on the floor. Taking advantage of his leverage, he freed Eddie from her's as well. Given the color coordination of her lingerie, Jamie had to wonder if Eddie had intuited the chances of this happening. He didn't hate that idea. He slid his thumbs beneath the sides of her underwear as he kissed the crux of her hipbone.

Eddie trembled as he pulled away her last covering, suddenly feeling bashful.

Jamie pressed his chest to her, warming her, feeling her every inch. Her head reeled backwards as he entered slowly. A yearning ache that had simply become a part of her had just been assuaged and while she normally would have felt empty with its sudden absence, right now Jamie was overwhelming her senses and she felt fulfilled in every way. Their rocking and breathing fell into a euphoric rhythm. Mere minutes later it was done. It almost seemed too fast for how long it had taken everything to converge on this moment. Truth be told, it had taken years, almost since the day they had met. They lay, spent and happy, arms intertwined.

"You gonna tell Renzulli or should I?" Eddie sounded almost sad for a second.

"I don't want to….yet."

"Jamie Reagan! Are you actually suggesting we break a rule, boy scout?" She sat up enough to look at him face to face.

"Just for a week. We have two weeks off, then I vote we ride together for at least one more week. I can't have that ride before our UC assignment be our last one, ya know? I need more closure than that."

"You act like we died." Eddie laughed. Jamie didn't.

"It's just gonna be hard to get used to it." He admitted ruefully.

"Yeah but there are benefits to the flipside."

Jamie looked down at the woman in his arms. It was a sharp contrast to her normally tough exterior. Her softness, feminine grace, alluring scent…it was the most irresistible combination he'd ever encountered. He brushed a few stray hairs from her forehead. Maybe it would be hard to give up their partnership. It would be harder to give up this.

"Yeah, there sure are, Janko, there sure are."


End file.
